Washington, Dec 15 (DPA) Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old founder of social networking website Facebook, was selected Wednesday as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

The distinction has been awarded since 1927, when it was initially called Man of the Year.

Last year, the person selected was head of the US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, and in 2008 the magazine chose President Barack Obama.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian national, won the readers’ choice vote, but the 39-year-old did not get the final nod from the magazine’s editors.