Portuguese Social Media: Two Stories of Success

Having spent a few days in Lisbon with some of our top communications pros (locked in a hotel meeting room), I was lucky enough to get out and hook up with two people who know more about what is going on with social media in Portugal than all the pundits in the social media chatterfest.

Seriously, sometimes I get sick and tired of the "analysts" and other self-appointed experts. I just want to connect with folks who are using social media and living their lives. Last year, France was the leading blogging community in EU. Now, Spain is where a lot of the action is. Each market in EU is developing different social media behaviors. Portugal loves on Hi5 and  has a solid core of enthusiast bloggers. I had  a chance  to meet up with two guys who are each successes in social media even though they both work in tiny, boot-strapped start-ups.

What does success look like?

Hugo and Andre share more than being bloggers. Both love Portugal. Andre seems like the cat who ate the canary - like he knows the secret to living well and that happens in Portugal. Hugo has a 3 month old daughter and lives in what sounds like a super sweet apartment with view to die for in downtown Lisbon. That's why I call them 'successes' - they love their lives. They have a passion for their business and their lives outside of that dream. They don't strike me as people who are putting off life while they build a business.

Hugo & The State of Social Media in Portugal

Hugo Neves de Silva started blogging in 2005 when he began writing his master' thesis. His thesis remains perpetually in the future but he continues to blog here. he has promised to translate his recent post cataolguing the state of the blogosphere in Portugal. You can read the originial here and I wll absolutely link to the English version when he gets it together (hint, hint, Hugo). He worked in local goverment on the tech side for 8 years and is now launching a start-up consultancy called Wingman. There focus is in optmizing business' use of the Web - actually getting their sites and initiatives to make more money and produce better business results. Both he and Andre were skeptical of the interactive agency scene in Lisbon - too many folks claiming capabilities that may be just too shallow.

Portugal has geek bloggers who are on Twitter and Jaiku. But business has yet to really embrace the social Web. Corporate blogging is at its infancy and I get the feeling that Hugo has some ideas about how corporations in Portugal can start developing blog strategies. The country is widely connected and there is a wide-spread  bilingual population (English is taught in grade school). people do not access the Internet via their mobile phones even though everyone has one.

Andre & A Way Cool Start-up

Andre Ribeirinho worked at Sapo, the Yahoo of Lisbon,  until one day, he did the unthinkable, what no one does - he left. And he left to create Adegga - a social wine discovery site. The site allows users to see what others think about wines and trades on the natural affinity that wine lovers have. Wine producers (paying member/sponsors) can see member wish lists and other brand-specific information. they can also connect with their fans. Very Web2.0. But with a business model. I love that he is boostrapping and resisting investment until he iterates new language-versions and acquires more registered users. I don't drink wine but if ever there was a category that had a built in "community" - it's wine. His simple design (he did it himself even though he's a techie) and the clear UI and value to both the wine lover and the wine producer is admirable.  Mashable covered their launch as did Stowe Boyd. You can read a pretty good interview at Chaminc, a Portuguese marketing blog. 

While there are other wine communities, I woudl bet on Andre's business success. His smart insight about what people want is impressive. I love that he has 100 stores signed up from Argentina to Italy and a dozen other countries.

From Hugo and Andre, I got the sense that Portugal is not a hotbed of Web 2.0 entrepeneurial activity. What they may not fully realize is how they may be the ones to inspire the next wave. Andre says that people who knew he left the comfy confines of Sapo were stunned but also openly rooting for his success. If more knew that Hugo left a career in public service to work at a startup of 5 people while he has a 3 month old daughter at home and a wife - they would cheer him on as well.

I wish them even greater success and have no doubt it will find them. Thanks guys for a great afternoon. And let;s all try to meetup at Shift 08 in Lisbon this October (both Andre and Hugo have a hand in organizing this conference)

(photos from Hugo and Stephanie Booth)

Comments

[jansegers]

"[...] business has yet to really embrace the social Web. Corporate blogging is at its infancy [...] "

I'm going to quote this article an some of the microblogs out there...

Is there a Portuguese microblog/twitter clone ?

I've found French, Italian, German, Dutch, Chinese and Spanish microblogs, but not a Portuguese one yet.

[Andre Ribeirinho]

Hi Jansegers,
there's isn't one (not that I know of).

However, the original Twitter is popular amongst early adopters.

[Michael Pranikoff]

Hi John,

Thanks for the great post. I was able to read the post you mentioned on the state of blogs in Portugal by using the Google Translate tool - google.com/translate . It's a great post, and the translator tool - while not great, does pretty decent job on the post and the comments.

Thanks for writing great content.

- Michael Pranikoff
Director, Emerging Media
PR Newswire

[HugoNS]

Hi John
First of, all let me thank you for the excellent conversation we had at the other day.
Unfortunately, I have to correct your information regarding Wingman_ (http://www.wingman.pt). It's true that is a consultant startup launched last year, but i'm not one of the founders (i wish, but i'm not). I'm only one of the 3 consultants that work for 2 great Portuguese entrepreneurs, José Pedro Vicente and Miguel Monteiro. Maybe one day, when the Portuguese companies realize the value of social media tools, like blogs and wikis, I could work for myself as an external adviser for Portuguese companies.