Agenda Setters: Where are they now... Mark Zuckerberg

As the countdown begins to silicon.com's ninth annual Agenda Setters poll of tech's 50 most influential individuals, it is time to look back at those who held top five positions in 2007. Today we catch up with last year's number one, Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg topped the Agenda Setters poll in 2007 and since then the social networking phenomenon has continued to make waves.

Just weeks after last year's Agenda Setters list was revealed, Zuckerberg made headlines when Microsoft paid $240m for a chunk of Facebook, which valued the company at a whopping $15bn.

And in March the 24-year-old recruited ex-Google big cheese, Sheryl Sandberg, as chief operating officer to help the company cope with its speedy expansion.

The social networking site has continued to improve, with the addition of new features such as improved security and applications including a chat facility and Facebook Connect - a way of linking other online applications to Facebook.

The company also opened up its architecture to other social networking sites through a licensing arrangement.

Although Facebook remains one of the most ubiquitous web 2.0 names out there, overall this year has seen more of a consolidation than a climb to new heights.

Earlier this year, for instance, the number of Facebook users in the UK dropped for the first time in 17 months, after rising more than 700 per cent during the previous year.

silicon.com readers disagreed with the Agenda Setter results in 2007 - and put Zuckerberg in second place below Apple boss Steve Jobs. But the Facebook founder still represents the threat to tech's old guard by a new, connected generation.

Because of Facebook's continued success we would expect Zuckerberg to make the Agenda Setters in 2008 - though we're not betting on another number one spot.

silicon.com's Agenda Setters panel, made up again of CIOs, analysts, VCs, consultants, lawyers, academics and other experts, convenes in September. Stay tuned for the results - to be revealed at the beginning of October.