Why is Le Blog so popular in Franc

Worldwide there are tens of millions of blogs and these days you can also post digital photos; and, so-called audio and video podcasts which can be downloaded to a personal media player. In France blogging has exploded in the past few months. The French blog community, or blogosphere, has 6 to 7 million blogs making it the second largest in the world behind the US. But it was a podcast interview of French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy with blogger Loic Le Meur just before Christmas that caused a cyberspace sensation in France. It was the first blogger podcast interview with a major French political leader and it has the French mainstream media and political establishment looking on with interest and perhaps with some envy. Le Meur’s blog is already one of the most popular in France but his Sarkozy interview attracted over 50-thousand views to his blog. Running a business that supports internet sites, Loic Le Meur says he has incorporated blogging into his working day. The 31 year old blogs in both French and in English and his motto is ‘traditional media sends messages – blogs start discussions’. Guy Degen spoke with Loic Le Meur.