16. The Traffic Driver: Gabe Rivera
techmeme.com
Rivera's Techmeme has fast become the tech news source of record by aggregating the top industry news from more than 1,000 blogs and mainstream media sources in one convenient location. Unlike Digg and other community edited sites, the ad-supported site is entirely automated. Rivera tweaks the algorithms, but the prominence of stories is all based on links and blog buzz, among other things. Last year the site launched a "leader board" to show the news sources that most frequently have their stories posted on the site.
17. The Poster Boy: Kevin Rose
digg.com
The founder of Digg is one of the most well-known faces of the new Web elite. That's partly because the computer-science dropout from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas changed the way millions of people each month get the news, taking power from front page editors and giving it to people who submit and vote for stories on Digg.com. The site, which has somewhere between 10 million and 22 million visitors a month, depending on who you ask, has a dedicated fan base. But Rose's high recognition factor is mostly because the 31-year old can't get out of the news and away from rumors of Digg's imminent sale to Google or Microsoft.
18. The Adult: Sheryl Sandberg
facebook.com
Since Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in his dorm room at Harvard University, the social networking giant has been dominated by a freewheeling culture of young, mostly male computer engineers. That all changed in April when the company hired former Google executive Sandberg to become Facebook's chief operating officer. Sandberg, 38, was brought in to provide some adult supervision and help Silicon Valley's hottest startup to grow up—and make oodles of money. If anyone can figure out how to capitalize on Web 2.0, it's Sandberg. As vice-president of global online sales and operations at Google, she oversaw huge growth in its international operations and managed its lucrative advertising business. As COO, Sandberg will be responsible for helping Facebook scale its operations and build its business model.
19. The Edutainer: Jon Stewart
thedailyshow.com
With the 2008 election, Stewart is increasing his influence exponentially this year. And a big part of the reason why is the Web. After some messy quarrels with YouTube over illegal copies running on the video service, Comedy Central, which produces The Daily Show, finally started putting all its shows up for free on its own Web site and allowing people to share them. With more people than ever turning to the Web for news and videos, The Daily Show has become the place where many claim to be getting their best coverage of the elections. So while Stewart wasn't a pioneer in going online, his embrace of the Net is an example of good timing.
20. The Money Man: Peter Thiel
clariumcapital.com
thefoundersfund.com
One of the most prominent members of Silicon Valley's PayPal mafia (a group of savvy entrepreneurs who emerged from the online payment firm), Thiel has invested in some of the hottest startups through The Founders Fund. Thiel started the venture capital fund, adapting to Web 2.0 entrepreneurs who don't need much money to get off the ground and don't want to give up big chunks of their companies. Thiel's investments include Facebook, Slide, and Yammer. Still, Thiel does much more than focus on startups. After selling PayPal to eBay, Thiel left to found Clarium Capital Management, a global macro hedge fund that now manages more than $7 billion in investments.
21. The Crafter: Maria Thomas
etsy.com
Etsy is a happening little company with a lot of promise. The three-year-old site, where people buy and sell homemade arts and crafts, last year sold $27 million in goods with very little marketing. Its secret? Hitting a chord with people who are tired of the ordinary and the mass produced. Thomas' job is to let more people aware that Etsy is the alternative they didn't know was there for them. She has plenty of experience building new models on top of old habits. As the Vice President and General Manager of NPR, she spearheaded the organization's wildly popular and innovative podcasting offerings. Now Thomas, a onetime exec at Amazon, is back at her e-commerce roots.
22. The Advocate: Anssi Vanjoki
nokia.com
Nokia (NOK) veteran Vanjoki is the most visible advocate for the Finnish handset maker's transition from hardware manufacturer to provider of mobile Internet services. As executive vice-president, markets, Vanjoki is responsible for convincing consumers as well as business partners that Nokia's devices are useful for much more than talking and occasionally snapping a photo. The "multimedia computers," as Vanjoki likes to call Nokia smartphones, are becoming gateways to the Internet and services such as social networking, music downloads or navigation. Nokia will need all the determination that the hard-driving Vanjoki, who hunts bear in his spare time, can muster. It's directly taking on Apple, Google, and Research in Motion.
23. The Crowd Sourcer: Jimmy Wales
wikia-inc.com/wiki/wikia
Wales is best known as the founder of Wikipedia, a community edited online encyclopedia that has grown from a niche site in 2001 to the source of all things pop culture. It is ranked by Web rating service Alexa as one of the top 10 popular sites in the world. But Wales would like also to be known as the force that bested Google at its own game. Wales has started the for-profit company Wikia Inc., which includes an open source search engine named Wikia Search. The project has received more than $4 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and the Omidyar Network.
24. The Blogger: Evan Williams
twitter.com
Williams has a knack for figuring out how people want to keep in touch—even before they seem to know it themselves. In 1999 he launched Blogger, a service that allows people to post their every thought online. That turned anyone with a computer into a global publisher. After selling Blogger to Google, Williams created a podcasting startup named Odeo that didn't take off. But in the meantime, Jack Dorsey, an employee at Williams' company, came up with Twitter. Twitter has popularized microblogging, the streams of short posts people write to groups of friends. During the past two years, the popularity of Twitter has exploded, as people turn to new ways to stay in touch.
25. The Fighter: Jerry Yang
yahoo.com
Still embattled after a bruising five-month campaign that repulsed Microsoft's $45 billion takeover bid, Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO and co-founder Yang must find ways to recharge growth at the struggling Internet portal. Despite speculation that Yahoo might be interested in buying Time Warner's AOL unit, Yang is publicly banking on new services such as a display-advertising system announced on Sept. 24. But activist investor Carl Icahn and two of his cohorts on Yahoo's board, along with many other shareholders, still favor a deal with Microsoft. Meantime, regulators are scrutinizing a proposed search ad deal with Google that Yahoo says would bring in $800 million a year. So Yang's running room is short. And with the economy already slowing the growth of Yahoo's mainstay display advertising revenues, his effort to keep Yahoo independent faces steep odds.
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