Analyzing The Verge's The Fifty

Taking a look at The Verge's 50 people of 2013 leads to few interesting results. For instance only three of the top eight were born in the United States. Yet later on, the list takes a much more American-centric feel with 68% of the full list being born in the USA (see chart below).

Yet the list also includes a large number of odd choices. For instance the list includes Alexa O’Brien instead of Bradley Manning, Rian Johnson instead of Vince Gilligan, Tig Notaro instead of Louis CK, and Janelle Monáe over Taylor Swift (or Ella Yelich-O’Connor). Meanwhile the list is full of far too many TV writers, while the only politician is best know for using a filibuster to delay a law that was still passed two weeks later. Also considering the likes of Sheryl Sandberg, Jony Ive, and Marissa Mayer to be part of "The Old Guard" is laughably out of touch.

And why are we still talking about Pussy Riot? If you want to include a musician attacked for their beliefs it would be far more relevant to select someone like Fazıl Say.

So the list certainly has a number of glaring flaws, but it is certainly interesting who The Verge finds worth writing about especially as this tech site choose to exclude the likes of Tim Cook, Lee Kun-hee, and Alex Kipman.