The web and the blogs have, as never ever before, played a significant role in the French presidential elections. This has forever impacted the political strategies in this country and has set a benchmark for some. The web is very popular with the French : one out of 2 french citizens is connected to the web and France has 4 million blogs. Worldwide nothing new. As local political lifes goes on - in Italy, in Israel, in China and in many countries - the local experiences can benefit people and candidates everywhere. In the US, the presidential election of 2008 has already seen a number of initiatives on both sides : Barack Obama, John Edwards, John Mc Cain, and some severe attacks on Hilary Clinton. I have heard that some candidates have created virtual worlds on Second Life. In France, political parties have realized the importance of the web when France said NO to the European Consitution, in 2005 : as Jean Philippe Clement put it : "the media said yes, and the web said no". So here is how the web 2.0 strategies were put in play during this french presidential campaign.

A few facts about the web in the campaign

- The 4 leading candidates in France operated their websites with real success : Sarkozy, Royal , Bayrou , and Le Pen.
- Each of their parties put up mash-ups from Google Maps to allow supporters to register directly to share a political action or join a group.
- See a map of the french blogoshere here.
- All french leading magazines and dailies opened weblogs for writers and popular individuals.
- IFOP conducted a survey in February : 47% of internet surfers are looking for political information on the web. This is particularly true of people above 35 years old, not of the younger ones. Download the research here.
- 21% of polled french citizens trust blogs as a source of information (Source Ipsos).
- The traffic of the political weblogs increased by 250% according to FranceInfo (May 5th, 2007).
- Out of the top 6 most influencial french blogs, 5 relate directly (Versac, Bayrou, embruns) or comment occasionnally (Loic le Meur, Point Blog) politics and the presidential campaign.
- The webcasts distributed through the leading video platform are a good benchmark. Segolene's message has been seen 44 000 times. The "promotional" video of Sarkozy and the 21 children taken hostage, 300 000 times.

How did the 2 leading candidates built their web strategy?

Segolene Royal engaged in a viral strategy, stimulating the discussion while Sarkozy was focusing on his own site, creating his own web TV - NSTV, putting up a lot of content and focusing on his program. The web budget of Segolene Royal amounted to € 1.2 million. Her team put together a map of the supporting blogs. See below. She had 40 moderators sorting out the messages and ideas and pull from it major ideas and messages. Nonetheless, her campaign could not fill in the gaps left by her own program. Sarkozy launched his web strategy quite early in 2006. Sarkozy had a supporter's club very active in the campaign. Loic Le Meur, the french most influencial blogger regardless of the last ranking, participated unofficially but actively in that campaign, advising Sarkozy, suggesting video interviews, inviting him to speak at "Le Web 3.0", taking stances on his own blog and congratulating him for his election 1 hour before the results were published.

In the end, the web was smartly used by both candidates, but one used it as a technique, while the other leveraged it around his program. The one with the strongest focus won and his web strategy breathed that focus. But the web did not change history, nor did it replace the power of television. A final note : in his first speach after his election, there was an inscription behind him : sarkozy.fr. Read more from here, Jacques Seguela et Thierry Saussez' point of view,

Segolene's Royal map of supporting blogs.

Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, is most likely a great product, built by smart guys, bringing significant UI (Aero) and "inside the box" improvements. To find out more, I spoke to Stuart Mudie, a Paris-based writer and editor and co-author along with Derek Torres of The Unofficial Guide to Windows VistaZDNet.fr . Read his interview below : Stuart brings great insights. I also met Christophe Guillemin, journalist for ZDNet.fr, who gave me a recap of the key marketing figures and potential revenus for Microsoft. He specializes in telecom, IT and audio/video (TVHD, games, software).  So why am i saying that Vista a Web 1.0 product?