Lisbon Social Media Café

In London, the Coach and Horses as been seing a gathering of minds that as been refered to as the Social Media Café, or The Friends of Harry Tuttle.

After finding out about the idea, a group of portuguese bloggers set out to import it to Lisbon. The goal is simple, to gather bloggers, podcasters and photographers and to nurish the debate regarding Social Media in Portugal.

But we want a bit more than that…

Back in 1915, Lisbon’s cafés were more than a place where you could get more than a cup of coffee. The cafés were a place to discuss politics, social issues, art, literature and science.

Five men had a habit of gathering in one of Lisbon’s most famous cafés and discuss literature, both national and foreign, sharing ideas and concerns about society.

It wasn’t long until they set out to “slap society’s sense of good taste”. This was the birth of the Orpheu Magazine, published by Luis de Montalvor, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, Ronald de Carvalho, Fernando Pessoa, and José de Almada Negreiros.

So it’s now 2008 and the Friends of Harry Tuttle are leading the way. It makes sense that we should follow. At the same time we would like to bridge the language barrier as best as we can. And in the spirit of the London social media café, we would like that the opportunity for bloggers to meet face to face could be used to raise awareness on the social media phenomenon in Portugal.

So please, feel free to leave your suggestions and comments and we hope to see you in the meetings of the Lisbon Social Media Café.

Our thanks to Sonia Valentina for letting us use one of her photos!