French swap blogs for social network

FRENCH web users are turning away from blogs and becoming more passive users of the internet, a new study into different nationalities’ online behaviour has revealed.

The report by Forrester Research, one of the leading US digital research firms, found fewer French people creating material and expressing themselves on blogs.

Forrester analyst Jacqueline Anderson said the decline was due to “a lack of fresh ideas”.

The number of web users in France who keep a blog has fallen this year from 13 to 11 per cent.

The percentage in Italy is twice as high and most of France’s European neighbours, including Spain and Britain, are ahead in terms of blog ownership. Instead, the French are turning to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to post short comments and communicate with friends.

The research suggests that 40 per cent of people in France have a profile on a social networking site and 19 per cent of people participate on forums and leave comments on news stories and review sites.

The popularity of social networks keeps growing here, while it has tailed off slightly in the United States, according to Forrester.