Loic LeMeur - photo credit by Joi Ito

I know what you’re thinking, because this is what I thought a while back. He’s French. And he’s a blogger. What could he possibly have to say that would make me follow him?  Wine reviews? Cheese talk? Tech? Well, granted he’s French so knowing quality wine and cheese is in his DNA, but tech? Yeah, he knows tech. Plenty of tech. And being an entrepreneur.

Loïc was just named one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web from Business Week magazine recently which was an honor well-deserved and I don’t know of one person in the tech community who would disagree with that. And he’s one of the smartest and nicest guys online; and I am sure even more so in person. Because he is real.

What makes me like him even more was his comment on his blog after getting the nod in Business Week.

“This is great I feel honored and thank you to Business Week for adding me to this incredible list but I have learnt to take some distance from these lists, they do not mean success when the business is only starting. I have yet to make Seesmic a real success, it is very promising but still very small and full of challenges. I feel incredibly happy of course to be in this list, but I know how much work still remains :) In fact, it is more pressure to succeed or beware of the fall!”

I believe that is why I enjoy following Loïc the most; being an entrepreneur like myself and what it takes. He’s a serial entrepreneur - starting 4 of his own. He has realistic expectations of the web, after having been a major part of it for the last 10 years.

He has the #1 blog in France, did the only podcast with France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy as he was campaigning, and even assembled 1,000 bloggers to help Sarkozy’s campaign. He also launched the Second Life Sarkozy Island.

Loïc is indeed one of the pioneers of the video social platform, especially since launching his own company, “Seesmic” in the States in 2008. Seesmic is a video micro blogging web application to make video uploading easier for those using webcams.  Seesmic has been referred to as the “Twitter of Video” and has a broad following while still in alpha release. Seesmic then did something pretty cool; it purchased the social software client Twhirl, an Adobe AIR based Twitter client, which is complementing the Seesmic suite.

You can tell with immense pride his love of Le Web, a unique event that Loïc started and has grown exponentially. It features Internet entrepreneurs, visionaries and politicians such as Nobel Prize Winner Shimon Peres. LeWeb started in 2005 with only 250 attendees and in 2007 over 1,800 participants from 40 countries met in Paris! And the speakers list is a fantastic menu of digital greatness. I am indeed saving my money for 2009; although I selfishly wish he had planned it during the same time as the Tour de France…

Here is a short interview with Loic (who was kind of enough to fill this out an hour after I sent it to him just after he landed from his plane trip from France…what a sport!)

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Who are you, what is your blog and the URL?

Loic Le Meur, entrepreneur and blogger and my blog is at http://www.loiclemeur.com

Where did the idea for the blog come about?

I was discussing in 2003 with my friend Joi Ito who got me into blogging. I saw him get comments from all around the world on a post in a matter of minutes and it felt like magic to me. I never stopped since then.

What has been the coolest/funniest/most rewarding (or worst) thing that has happened since you started the blog?

I launched the LeWeb conference as a blog gathering of my readers with about 50 people in 2004 and it turned into the largest web event in Europe with 1500 people from 40 countries! Talk to me about the power of blogs…

Why do you think your blog became so famous/successful?

I have no idea. Maybe because I am online exactly like in real life, I do not fake myself.

Where do you think you will take it in the next year? 5 Years?

More video. I think video blogging will be huge, this is why I started and devote all my time to Seesmic, the video conversation platform.

What do you do when you aren’t blogging?

Launching Seesmic, spending time with my family, running and kite-surfing.

Ever been to Cape Cod?

Nope but I would love to!

Anything else you would like to share?

Thanks very much for your interest!

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Feel free to comment on this and I urge you all to follow Loïc on his blog, through Seesmic, LeWeb, and through Twitter - he’s definitely one of the best to follow!

Perhaps we can get Loïc to Cape Cod next summer for some kite-surfing with Ryan …

I did forget to ask Loïc why he chose a racoon and what he named the cute little nugget. Maybe I can even twist his arm to get a mascot for my desk some day.  :-)