Is Steve Jobs more popular than Jesus?
Apple's CEO tops two polls in one week. Will no one rid us of these meddlesome lists?
Photo: Apple Inc.
Last Thursday, Oct. 8, an Agenda Setters panel named Steve Jobs the most influential individual in the global technology industry, ahead of Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and Barack Obama, President of the United States.
Four days later, a survey of 1,000 tweens and teens ages 12 to 17 picked Steve Jobs as the celebrity entrepreneur they admired most, ahead of Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg and the Olsen twins.
Is Apple's (AAPL) CEO really more influential than Obama and more popular than Oprah, as headline writers invariably put it?
Of course not.
These lists are confections, artifacts of organizations trying to drum up publicity for themselves — in this case, a U.K.-based CBS Interactive subsidiary called Silicon.com and Junior Achievement, an American institution that's been preparing students for the business world for more than 90 years.
I know something about how such lists are created, having had a hand for many years in selecting TIME's Man of the Year and putting together the magazine's Most Influential lists. One criterion for making that list was whether a particular celebrity would agree to come to the TIME 100 party. Steve Jobs never showed up, but he's appeared on the "Builders and Titans" list many times. See, for example, here.
To keep list-making manageable, you have to limit both the group that makes the decision and the pool of nominees. Silicon.com used a panel of 12 who started with a list of 20 names each. Junior Achievement asked its survey group — chosen by Opinion Research Corp. — to vote on a pre-selected list of brand-building celebrity entrepreneurs that included Tony Hawk, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kimora Lee Simmons and, once again, Mark Zuckerberg.
Source: Google Insights
It would be impossible to run a comprehensive poll to determine who is truly the most popular or influential person in the world at any particular time. The closest thing we have today is probably Google Insights, which can tell you whose name among a list of up to five is being searched for most frequently over time.
If it's any comfort to Christians, Steve Jobs is barely a blip in a Google Insights bake-off with Jesus, although when you run the exercise using the search term "Jesus Christ," there have been a few moments over the years when Steve Jobs' name came up more frequently.
If Google had been around when John Lennon said what he said about the Beatles, maybe the Vatican wouldn't have had to accept his apology.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
"This article is sacrilegious."
OK.
But we don't live in theocracies, do we?
You know, the "rule of law"?
The responses on this blog make me think the US has a lot in common with Afghanistan. Lots of folks hanging out in the woods with they guns and they bibles, swearing murder upon the heretic and the pagan interloper in their midst.
Jesus may have been all that or he might not, but under the rule law he was just another lump of arm meat with an opinion. Or, he 'might' have been.
Or, he might have been a marketing stunt dreamed up to sell pepper flavoured wine to Persians, that somehow got out of control and turned into an enduring cult. It happened with Coke.
We don't know.
But we are allowed to speculate on the next messiah, surely?
I'd go with the Divine Being's church any day. I say bless the digital flock and take their cash and save the world. Follow Steve!
I am all for that. I reckon JC would have been, too, if he were a modern man. He would have bought Apple stock, for sure. He would have hung out with the Divine Being, and he definitely would have encouraged Apple to publish the iPhone iCal API for developers.
Gosh, he might have even blessed the iPhone, it is so pure.
Steve did, and he is only a minor deity.
Imagine the limits if the iPhone became the Jesus phone!
That should be the advertising campaign, in a nutshell:
"Steve Jobs uses one, and Jesus would too. iPhone: The tools of messiahs."
For all of those offended by the article, how do you feel knowing that millions of people have never even heard of Jesus? The popularity of a religious figure is completely irrelevant and should not be a cause of concern to you.
Jesus is the most popular person ever imagined in the world's history because before time began, Jesus is the basis of standards for comparing "so called popular people" in this world. He is King, HE is GOD…
Im in no way religious but I have to say, in all of the crap that can be found on the internet, this piece and its very concept truly is total and utter BS.
Steve Jobs make TOYS, that what he does. Little, popular, shiny toys.
The depth of American materialism and consumerism has, in this writers opinion, dropped to a new found depth.
This is possibly the worst excuse of a story I have ever read. As a fellow journalist, I believe this is a poor excuse for an article. Comparing popularity of Steve Jobs to Jesus Christ based on google insights is absurd. So what if at some miniscule portion of time 'Steve Jobs' has been searched more than 'Jesus Christ'. You said yourself, Jobs doesn't even come close in comparison to searches for 'Jesus'. Furthermore Jesus' popularity has survived over 2,000 years. Steve Jobs will be lucky if his popularity lasts 20.
I don't believe Jesus was fictional. I believe he walked the earth just as we do. I don't believe in his rhetoric. There is no god and those who line up to conform with the believers and wasting a lot of time and money that could have been applied to more useful endeavors.
No one compares to Jesus. No man is worthy to have his name put in the same sentence and we wonder why people get so PRIDEFUL!
Do a google search for steve jobs and then another for jesus christ. See what happens? jesus christ might as well be santa claus.
Put it to the test. Ask 1000 random kids if they'd rather give up their Bible or their iPod for a week.
I am sure even Steve Jobs would be offended by the title of this article. Another example of trash journalism. I will no longer buy or read Fortune Magazine.
"Will no one rid us of these meddlesome lists?"
Then why in God's name (no pun intended) would you write about it!?!? This is the prime example of a "journalist", with a deadline, and nothing to write about.
Yes, it is that obvious…
The title, article and author are almost as ignorant as the postings referring to Jesus Christ as "fictional" and a "character". Between Obama and authors like Elmer-DeWitt there is no need to worry about Jobs versus "Jesus" the world will be ending soon and we will all get to meet that "character" who is going ot judge us all.
Reminds me of an episode of The West Wing:
President Bartlet: "You know that line you're not supposed to cross with the President?"
C.J.: "I'm coming up on it?"
President Bartlet: "No, no. Look behind you."
There's a line in dealing with God and the use of His name. Look behind you, Mr. Elmer-DeWitt.
And, if any readers are confused, yes, I'm referring to blasphemy: "taking the Lord's name in vain" (that means unnecessarily and/or disrespectfully), and yes, it is a sin, and yes, I know that I too am a sinner.
So, why do I bring it up?
1) Because the only hope that we have is to repent (turn away from sin) and ask God to forgive us for our sinfulness. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."–1 John 1:9
2) I am responsible for whether or not I tell him that he needs to do.
So now, I've done what I'm supposed to do. The ball's in your court, PED.
P.S. I like your coverage of Apple, when it concerns the technology and the business, which is why I'm here to begin with.
=Gandalf=
I second Lee Winfield's comment on this subject. This article is just a pathetic attempt by Fortune to generate "buzz" with a headline. Don't be so lazy, Fortune.
What a completely asinine question. Just shows how little journalists know about anything outside of their area of expertise. Fortune has dropped to a new low.
JC is pre-mediaeval religious fantasy character as stated by others.
SJ has done factual stuff and does not require his work to be based on "faith".
In most other contries people may know an Apple product over JC.
jesus has been around forever and will be around long after any of us die.only us who know him will be around in the next life
"First step to rid of such lists is for alleged journalist to stop talking about them"
Exactly.
How stupid does a journalist need to be to write an article saying that popularity comparisons are meaningless – and then throwing in one of his own.
If they're meaningless, stop doing it – and stop publicizing meaningless things. Can't you find anything intelligent to write about?
I found this article offensive and sacriligious. Would you have dared to post it if it compared Jobs to Mohammed? I will cancel my subscription to the paper edition.
I think it's ridiculous that a fictional character is being used as a reference. The "Jesus" character in "The Bible" is as imaginary as "Little Red Riding Hood", yet no one compares anyone to her popularity!
so far I don't think so, he aint Jesus and nowhere near! well, he has a large influence till this current day of tech age. hope his health gets better twitter
We know Steve Jobs and we know what his accomplishments are because we can see them with our own eyes. It's harder to accept the stories and legends about JC because there's no evidence and we can't see them with our own eyes.
the list the author is referring to is who is the most influential global technology leader NOT who is the most influential person in general.
Logically, I would have to say Jobs *has* been the most influential person in this particular field for at least the past 10 years.
I want the five minutes of my life back that i just spent reading this article. What a waste of time…
Ask people 30, 50, 100, 500 , 1000 years ago who was most popular. I don't think any of them knew Jobs but many knew Jesus and still do..This is the most stupid question I have ever seen.
Why not—He is Live, we see him and live with his creations—and has not send any Tsunamies that kill !
Peter
Absolutely No Way! We have always heard of "Oh! Jesus Christ!" but anyone heard of Oh! Steve Jobs? Steve is a million miles behind JC.
@Johnny Rocket: Jesus is not a pre-medieval religous fantasy character. As the first google search from Wikipedia points out, He is as historical as say Alexander (the great). The difference of opinion is in whether he is "divine". Also Jesus' greatest miracle is not that he changed water into wine, but that he changed me an irreverent atheist, to a beleiver. Because it's not just about today and now – but for your best life – after death. Contrast that with Jobs gift to me: I have an unusable iphoto library with one year's precious moments and an equally unusable time machine backup of that.
Few know jobs, many know Jesus
few years and new technologies later, Jobs would be long forgotten.
But it's Amazing isn't it, 2000 years later peoples lives are still made better by Jesus 
Thank you for lowering the collective intellect by using your position of reporter to highlight nonsense like this. I suggest that you take a walk through Yellowstone to contemplate your contribution to our planet.
But is Steve Jobs more popular than the Beatles? Is there something about 'Apple' that makes this so?
Of course he is, He is a God on his own right, look at all the followers worshipping him. He is better than Jesus because people can see him to believe him. He talks every one around him listens and donates money to his cause. What else do you need? And he has several lives that is more than god!
This is a wrong headed question. It's not an issue of popularity – it's an issue of impact. On that score it is seriously questionable whether Jobs has impacted the world for the better unless you believe there is salvation in technology.
Technology also has its dark side, the extent of which we will likely only discover after the passing of time. One thing is certain, technology has certainly made us feel like gods.
Well, one could argue that Jobs has been behind some of the technological innovations that have shaped the century. And whether he is bigger than some pre-mediaeval religious fantasy character is pretty irrelevant, after all, Jobs, like Ghandi, doesn't require an act of faith to see he exists.
Here's some stuff he's done:
1 – Help invent the PC UI
2 – Help invent the graphic user interface
3 – Help turn computers into machines for the rest of us
4 – Help make digital video a mainstay – remember the world before iMovie for this?
5 – Help reinvent media sales with iTunes
6 – Help mass market acceptance of digital music with iPod
7 – Force change in the mobile/smartphone market
8 – Help make desktop publishing happen (which also means help pizza leaflets become more prevalent than we ever thought possible.
And while it's true none of these rank as high as turning water into wine, they've all caused considerable change, and he's recognised by so many people for this…
Thanks for the insider info on popularity surveys, Philip! Hardly rocket science, eh?
SJ has a few of things in common with JC: adoring disciples, crucifying anti-Apple sentiment, and reborn with a new liver.
Live long and prosper Mr Jobs!
I don't usually write on blogs but had to on yours. You have a very unique writing style. A lot of people don't have that touch, they just drone on and on in the most boring way. But not you – thanks! I really enjoy sites about religion, they give me a lot to think about. Thanks again!