Stephen Baker, writing today on the Business Week blog, says that blogs had a big effect on France's referendum on the EU constitution.
Baker highlights the influence of one particular blogger, law professor Etienne Chouard, whose (French-language) site got around 25,000 hits a day during the lead up to Sunday's vote and was widely linked to.
The Washington Post says Mr Chouard became "something of a folk hero to the No campaign" for his site, which he used to attack the constitution. The buzz from the blog got him invited onto television to spar with leading politicians.
(We'd be grateful to hear on Newsblog if anyone has stumbled on a proper English translation of Mr Chouard's work, although you can of course check out a make-do Google translation).
Mr Chouard writes that he had originally been in favour of the constitution before he read it but after looking at in detail decided that he was against it, and describes it as "illegible".
France's Libération newspaper notes that Mr Chouard's next big project is to stir up a debate on the creation in France of a Sixth Republic whose government would be elected by choosing lots. Far-fetched, perhaps, but worse things have nearly happened by more traditional political processes.
