Oliver: Hi, Loïc!

Loïc Le Meur: Hi!

Oliver: Can you please introduce yourself and the company you work for to our readers? We are also interested in what you did before you were at SixApart.

Loïc Le Meur: I'm a French entrepreneur. Created 4 Internet startups: A web agency, a web hosting company, a web publishing software and finally U-blog. I sold all four companies to respectively BBDO, France Telecom, Access Commerce and Six Apart. I also invested in about 15 Internet businesses, such as Technorati, LinkedIn, Boonty... As U-Blog was acquired by Six Apart in 2003 I became Executive VP, Europe of Six Apart and in charge of that region of the World. I'm also an active blogger, but you probably know that ;-)

Oliver: ;) When did you start blogging?

Loïc Le Meur: October 2003, Joi Ito was my master in blogging, now he only plays World of Warcaft !

Oliver: So the way is free for you to start a #loic-IRC-Channel and take over.

Loïc Le Meur: Hehe, Joi is always one step ahead.

Oliver: What yould you say were your biggest achievements in your job?

Loïc Le Meur: Since the beginning or at Six Apart ?

Oliver: I wanted to limit it to that but just removed that limitation. Since the beginning of time ;)

Loïc Le Meur: Difficult to answer.

Oliver: OK, what made you really proud.

Loïc Le Meur: I would say two things: being able to predict (a little) the next things on the web and more importantly to execute (a lot) some of them. But it's a bit being full of myself to answer that. Let's say execution is much more important than ideas and I like execution of ideas that have not yet reached masses.

Oliver: I see. Now something easy: Where did ou fail?

Loïc Le Meur: In 2000, I started to invest and participate in the creation of too many businesses at the same time. I felt invincible at the bubble times. I learnt the hard way that you can only succeed if you are extremely focused.

Oliver: So this is why you still have to work? :)

Loïc Le Meur: :-) I don't "have to work" anymore, I just like creating new things and working on your passion is always very interesting, you don't see it as work.

Oliver: Same here, although I have to pretend that people need to pay me so I do what's fun for me. (and I still need the cash).

Oliver: We in Germany are constantly depressed because France has so many more bloggers. What does France do right, what goes wrong here?

Loïc Le Meur: Being also in charge of Germany I am as depressed as you are! This question from a German person is very funny, I'd like to answer: you tell me!

Oliver: In your blog you mentioned that France has a conversation culture. Maybe Germany is lacking that.

Loïc Le Meur: Seriously, I think the French have a long tradition of expressing themselves. We're the country of the revolution, look at how many cafés are full of people discussing politics and everything, look at how many strikes we have. Blogs are a great way for the French to have an influence, they understood that.

Oliver: Germans are more: Oh, the neighbors could think badly of me. The French more like: Oh, let's see what the neighbor thinks. Like that?

Loïc Le Meur: Yeah, we don't care that much. This morning I blogged for which Presidential candidate I will vote for... 150 comments so far.

Oliver: I don't now a single bloger who said he'd vote for our chancellor. (Except for the party bloggers ;) )

Loïc Le Meur: :-)

Oliver: Many have the impression that Six Apart moved out of Germany and it looks like the larger projects here failed (e.g. the blogs with T-Online). Is that impression correct? have you given up?

Loïc Le Meur: Difficult to comment that... But you said it yourself, there are very few bloggers in Germany, it does not catch up, so it does not make sense for us to invest too much until it starts taking off, because I believe it will, you can't be the only country left behind ! So we will just wait a bit... All our software is available in German. We provide tech support in German. Which is already a start for a US company.

Oliver: So waiting will solve the problem? (If it really is one.) Is there no way to start a skyblog-effect in Germany by talking to radio stations?

Loïc Le Meur: I talked to several German radio and TV companies. They don't see the point.

Oliver: Hm. Maybe Myspace will wake them up.

Loïc Le Meur: I'm actually amazed, as the examples of Skyblog and MySpace are so obvious! I hope. Skyblog in France helped a lot for the blogging phenomenon to fly.

Oliver: Very few people here use it as an example. - I am wondering: Is it better to have more bloggers? Except if you sell blogging software, I mean.

Loïc Le Meur: Well, I think so.

Oliver: Why?

Loïc Le Meur: It's never been as easy as today to find people who share the same ideas, the same passions, the same anything as you. Sharing is everything. We used to be able to share our ideas with nearby friends. Blogging is sharing with the World.

Oliver: When I was a kid I joined the boyscouts and did ballroom dancing. Lotsa people there with the same interests.

Loïc Le Meur: See how the Lebanese and the Israeli citizens discussed on blogs during the recent war, at that moment the states were not talking to each other.

Oliver: OK, how my Israelis do we need? We had I think one active blogger during the Iraq war and maybe max. 5 to 10 others there. And later 5-10 soldiers. Do we need 50.000 bloggers in Israel and Lebanon?

Loïc Le Meur: The more bloggers, the more conversation there is, the better. Wars mostly start when people stop talking and understanding each other. Governments will feel pressure from the population, and it will act as a counter power. More bloggers in Israel would have maybe pushed the Government not to hit Lebanon and find other solutions, diplomatic.

Oliver: Brave new world that is ruled by bloggers. We'll talk in 10 years I guess. -- Only a little more politics: We also had a blogger -you know Katharina - who did a video interview with our Chancellor Angela Merkel and you did interviews with high ranking French politicians. Is this what vlogging is for? Or is this just PR?

Loïc Le Meur: I can't talk for Katharina. But for me the aim was to get the politicians closer to us. When they are on TV etc they are too far way, I want them a click away.
The podcast with Nicolas Sarkozy, #2 in Government, generated about 500 comments. Then I showed them to his team, and I think they understood something is happening there. Now most politicians blog in France and read blogs.

Oliver: Did it have consequences to confront his team with the comments?

Loïc Le Meur: There are 7 million French people who read blogs in France, so clearly blogs start to have a big influence.

Oliver: I just had this vision of 500 blogs by the members of the Bundestag. I am not really sure I wanna read that.

Loïc Le Meur: You need millions of blogs and in the quantity you will find a few you really get addicted to, that is the most important. -- The new segway is really cool by the way :) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5250735315062329280#20m6s



Oliver: Do you have one?

Loïc Le Meur: No, I'd love one.

Oliver: Are you paid by Segway to point to the new one?

Loïc Le Meur: Are you joking? I just love gadgets and was happy to try it. Now I'm not ready to put 6500? on the table to get one.

Oliver: Kidding, sure. But some people are worried about undercover advertising in blogs.

Loïc Le Meur: I understand. I get to try a Nokia phone every quarter or so. And [if] I like it I say it. I also say negative things. Now Blackberry started to do the same, I still give my honest feeling as if you asked me as a friend. I just don't talk much about Sony Ericsson because they don't let me try the phones. I would if they did. Would be the same in real life...

Oliver: You just get them to try and have to give them back?

Loïc Le Meur: Yes but I give them back when I want.

Oliver: ;-)

Loïc Le Meur: And as I usually always want the latest one, it is perfect for me.

Oliver: I guess so.

Loïc Le Meur: You should have seen my phones budget before these programs, I used to buy one every quarter !

Oliver: :-) Do the advertising blogs on skyblog.com work? They seem rather boring to me.

Loïc Le Meur: I don't read Skyblogs and I don't know the answer to your question, probably as Skyrock was acquired by a fund (AXA) for a great valuation, that blogs helped.

Oliver: What is happening at SixApart and what will happen in the next three years as far es social media is concerned?

Loïc Le Meur: Well we're launching Vox.com soon. Which is a concentrate of what we learnt and where we think it is going.
-all integrated (video, audio, pictures, etc), your life online

-open to external platforms (YouTube, Flickr, etc...)

-and with embedded social software so that you can privately talk to your friends and family, a big trend

Oliver: How soon? (I already have beta access, of course ;-))

Loïc Le Meur: It is still in beta. But we'll open it shortly. I can't communicate on the actual date.

Oliver: One support-question about Vox.com: Can I use it to podcast or vodcast? Or can I just "deposit" audio and video there?

Loïc Le Meur: Not right now but will add more features after the launch.

Oliver: So private social networking is gonna take off?

Loïc Le Meur: We think so.

Oliver: Is there a way to make sure that one creates a second Youtube or Myspace? Is the success of Google copyable?

Loïc Le Meur: I don't understand your question, sorry.

Oliver: To phrase it differently: "How do I get rich with Web 2.0? What do I need to to to create a second Youtube or Myspace??

Loïc Le Meur: That is too late :) If I was you I would look at two things
-video content. I think the content on these sites are generally quite bad and here we're talking about replacing TV on the long run, so great content online will find its way
-online gaming, WOW, Second Life

Oliver: What about 3d?

Loïc Le Meur: I don't know enough about 3D. I think things like on the phone.

Oliver: Second Life Video online Gaming mobile? OK I'll look for that ;)

Loïc Le Meur: I think it is going to be huge. Avatars, 3D, second worlds, but that is an easy prediction. So people jumping now in consulting around them, building virtual worlds, helping brands in them, virtual real estate businesses... are all great ideas but expect very low revenues for a long time.
Vox is aimed at the friends of the addicted bloggers, so no complicated stuff right now, we want everybody to be able to use it. Advanced users can use TypePad and Movable Type.

Oliver: Ah so Vox is blogging for the masses?

Loïc Le Meur: Yes.

Oliver: E-Mailers don't e-mail about e-mail all the time. Why do bloggers constantly have to blog about blogging and have special blogger conferences?

Loïc Le Meur: Blogging conferences: because it's a new world and people want to talk about it. However the next "Les Blogs" will be more Web 2.0 than blogging only. Should be in December if I find a room...

Oliver: Define Web 2.0.

Loïc Le Meur: - Web 1.0: mass communication applied to the web (corporate web sites, media sites not interactive, etc) still few people talking to masses
- Web 2.0: anybody can publish and express themselves. End of the masses, beginning of a huge conversation where word of mouth is more important than advertising, as an example.

Oliver: You blogged that Gartner put Web 2.0 at the top of the hype cycle (overexaggerated expectations) so you are initiating the slide down to depression?

Loïc Le Meur: I think it is overexaggerated. But still the phenomenon is very large and will get to the masses. As we all want to express ourselves.

Loïc Le Meur. The challenge is to get it out of the geeks and have everybody use the tools we like so much, this will mean more freedom and democracy, I am sure.

Oliver: Thanks for your time.

Loïc Le Meur: Thanks very much Oliver.

Pardon: Nachgeliefert: Loics Blog (französische Ausgabe), englische Ausgabe