A fresh look at French blogs
In France’s mysterious embrace of blogs, Thomas Crampton, from the International Herald Tribune, tries to understand why there are at least 3 million French bloggers. Instead of drowning us under an avalanche of statistics, Crampton chose to talk with some well-known French bloggers. So his article is more entertaining than a Gartner survey — and probably as accurate. But read more…
If Crampton’s ‘qualitative’ approach is interesting, it also have some limits: he didn’t talk with the average French blogger who might also have something to say. But obviously, it’s hard to talk with 3 million people…
So here are some short quotes, starting with Loïc Le Meur, from Six Apart, a company which sells blogging software and services.
“With so many blogs, I’m hoping for fewer protests and strikes in Paris this fall,” said Loïc Le Meur. “If people can express themselves online, then maybe they don’t need to block the streets.”
This is a good line, but a real explanation of why French are blogging might be cultural and related to the French national character.
“It is clear that in France we have very large egos and love to speak about ourselves,” Le Meur said. “If you look at Germans or Scandinavians — offline and on the Internet — they really don’t talk about themselves.”
Then Crampton turns to the utilization of blogs by French politicians.
“You cannot be elected president of France without a blog,” said Benjamin Griveaux, director of Web strategy for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former finance minister who in 2004 was among the first politicians to start a blog. “Blogs have not replaced traditional media, but they are absolutely necessary for every politician.”
Crampton also looks at Ségolène Royal, who might be a candidate in the next French presidential elections.
The French Socialist presidential hopeful Ségolène Royal started a blog in February that has had more than half a million visitors and 20,000 comments, and it has been credited with lifting membership of the Socialist Party. The blog includes a draft version of her political platform, which citizens are invited to comment on before it is completed.
Here I must say I disagree with Crampton. Désirs d’avenir, the so-called Royal’s blog, is more a collection of forums than a blog. In fact, this is a small company, with a six-member editorial committee and about 60 persons participating to the life of the web site.
But even if it’s not really a blog, it gives Royal a new way to communicate with the French population.
So I have a question for you: do you think that “Désirs d’avenir” is a blog or not? Please tell me what you think — and enjoy Crampton’s article.
[Note: for an unknown reason, the direct link to Crampton’s article doesn’t return the full contents with Internet Explorer even if it’s fine with Firefox. This is why I chose to give you the link to the printable version.]
Source: Thomas Crampton, International Herald Tribune, July 27, 2006
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