Loic Le Meur is a serial French entrepreneur and blogger. He is the founder and CEO of video conversation site, Seesmic. An active user on Twitter, his company also owns Twhirl, one of the most popular Twitter and social software clients. With his wife Geraldine, Loic also founded and hosts the most popular web conference in Europe, LeWeb. The gathering brings together 2000 entrepreneurs from 40 countries.

Loic was named “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum. He also advises the World Economic Forum and participates in their conference each year in Davos. Business Week Magazine named Loic one of The 25 Most Influential People on the Web. He lives in San Francisco, California with his wife and three boys. This interview was conducted at the Seesmic offices in San Francisco.

Wisdom 2.0 Interview with Loic Le Meur (Pt. 2)

Soren: You have to be one of the most active online users I know. You have posted something like 14,000 updates on Twitter and are of course very active on Seesmic. You are also a blogger and very present on Facebook and Youtube. How do you find a balance in your life without getting smothered in information overload?

Loic: I am struggling with it. I do not know the answer. This is a very important subject. It’s strange because I have recently been thinking a lot about just this issue.

I tend to get distracted a lot. For example, I start to read a book then get to page 4 and want to go online and talk to people about what I have read so far. This sharing is very important, but too much back and forth makes me lose focus. It is hard for me sometimes to just focus on one thing.

“If you are not careful, you can spend all day tending to other people’s priorities instead of your own.”

One way I try to manage everything is to not live from my inbox. I like the quote I heard from Chris Sacca that goes “Your inbox is a to-do list with which anyone else can add an item.” I use a site called Remember the Milk which helps me stay focused on my top priorities, rather than get lost responding to emails and posts all day. If you are not careful, you can spend all day tending to other people’s priorities instead of your own.

Another activity I do that really helps is that I jog almost everyday. This helps clear my mind. I think it is important to step away from the computer sometimes. For many of us, there is rarely a time that we are not connected. The problem is that I am in the business of creating companies, like Twhirl, that keep you constantly connected with information coming at you non-stop (laugh). But I think we need to find a balance and I am trying to do that.

I know that you recently stopped auto-following everyone on Twitter. You followed about 20,000 people. It seems almost impossible to follow that many people.

It is not almost impossible, it is impossible. There is no way to do it. Robert Scoble took issue with me about this, arguing that if someone follows you, you should follow that person. But I do not want to pretend to follow people that I actually do not. I am slowly adding more people, and hope to find a good balance with it. I want to really get to know the people I follow rather than pretend to follow 20,000 people.

In a recent tweet, you said that you have decided to focus on quality over quantity.

Yes, that is what I am trying to do. Quality is often missed in our world today. For example, if I was here talking to you, and at the same time, I was typing and sending messages on a Blackberry, it would change the quality of our interaction. I am not always successful at it, but I try to be present for people both on and offline.

We are also trying to do this with Twhirl and Seesmic: we are releasing fewer new products, but making sure that the ones we do are really needed and helpful.

“if I was here talking to you, and at the same time, I was also trying to take care of other tasks by typing and sending messages on a Blackberry, it would change the quality of our interaction.”

You got in a debate with Michael Arrington some time back because he had gone to the Le Web event you organize in Paris and said that Europeans do not work hard enough. You argued that you do not need to work like crazy to succeed. Do you really think that you can be more effective with balance rather than constant effort?

Actually, Michael called us lazy! He said it right there on stage. He said we were lazy and that is the reason we never create the great Internet companies. However, I do not agree with him. Europe, by comparison, has had many successful Internet companies.

“ I am not always successful at it, but I try to be present for people both on and offline.”

It’s funny because I took Michael out to a five-hour dinner in Paris with one of the world’s best chefs. Michael is probably the hardest working blogger in the world, a guy you cannot get on the phone for more than two minutes, and for this dinner he had to sit down in one place for five hours and just enjoy food. It was torturous for him! I mean, five hours sitting there with no Internet connection and slowly eating each course…. For Michael to take a five-hour dinner is unheard of. He did not know what to do at first. I think later in the evening he relaxed a bit and actually enjoyed it.

I like the value Europeans place on non-work activities, such as taking time for friends and meals. It’s not the same here, where going out for lunch with someone just to get to know him or her is often seen as a waste of time. However, I appreciate the innovation of those in Silicon Valley. We are in a tough recession now, and it is felt strongly by those of us here in Silicon Valley.

In France, people would spend most of their time complaining and blaming the government, but here people are staying very positive, and are even asking, “What are the opportunities in a recession?” They take a very creative approach.
Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews