On French Blogueurs

The IHT recently published an interesting analysis of the French blogosphere under the title "France's mysterious embrace of blogs". The article argues that the reasons blogging is so popular in France -- beyond the expected French fascination with their moi -- range from technical to cultural and historical. Excerpts:

The French distinguish themselves, both statistically and anecdotally, ahead of Germans, Britons and even Americans in their obsession with blogs.

One common explanation is that there are so many French Internet surfers. Last year the number of French people online passed the halfway mark of the total population of 61 million, with 85 percent of Internet users in May using high-speed broadband at home.

French blogs stand out in other measurable ways. They are noticeably longer, more critical, more negative, more egocentric and more provocative than their U.S. counterparts.

Cultural explanations describe blogs as a natural outgrowth of the French national character. "It is clear that in France we have very large egos and love to speak about ourselves. If you look at Germans or Scandinavians, off-line and on the Internet, they really don't talk about themselves."

Historical explanations highlight the long French experience with online communication thanks to the Minitel, a text-based computer network popularized in the 1980s.

But blogs are having a greater effect on French society. "The Minitel was a classic, centrally controlled and top-down creation of the French elite. Blogs have been embraced by ordinary people, and this will flip the rigid power pyramid of French society."

Some even harbor a faint hope that flourishing online discussions might curb the French population's penchant for taking to the streets in protest. [full article]

[the article was translated in Le Monde last week under the title "La France allait au café, elle discute sur les blogs"]