Individual users have risen to form the greatest influence on the world in 2006, according to Time magazine, as it declared 'you' as its Person of the Year. 

User-generated content represents a "story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before", the publication wrote in an editorial.

Time cited YouTube, MySpace and Wikipedia as examples of the trend, along with open source projects and user reviews on Amazon.

"It is about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but change the way the world changes," the magazine said.

Time is relatively late in acknowledging the relevance of user-generated content. US dictionary Merriam-Webster declared 'blog' its word of 2005, while the New Oxford American Dictionary chose 'podcast'. 

Time warned, however, that the Web 2.0 is merely an experiment that can still fail because blogs are also used to manipulate stock prices and spread hatred or inaccurate information.

Every year the publication praises a single person or group of people for making a major impact on the world. Last year Bill Gates was elected for his charitable work, together with his wife Melinda and U2 rock star Bono.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been credited with saving 700,000 people with its investments in vaccination programmes.

Bill Gates said earlier this year that he would retire from Microsoft by 2008 to devote himself full time to his charitable work.