Second Sweden

The Swedish newspaper “Svenska Dagbladet” has opened its own island in Second Life.

The newspaper, based in the southern city of Malmö, says it will be opening the island to Swedish companies and others interested in having a presence there. It will have an office there where visitors can meet representatives from the newspaper.

Anders Olofsson, business area head for digital media at the newspaper, tells “Internet World” that so far they have no firm plan on whether or how to charge rent for those wishing to set up on the island.

“Internet World” reports that of the 1,974,607 unique Second Life users in January 2007, 18,750 were Swedes, in 14th place among countries.

Besides the coming Swedish Embassy in Second Life, there is another project there on an island called Second Sweden. The notecard there reads:

“Welcome to Second Sweden!

“Currently under major construction, what you see is just the pre-beta-phase.

“What we’re trying to create here is an area where scandinavians can hang out and where people interested in Sweden can find information about us and see the things that makes Sweden so special.”

This is followed by a note saying they are not affiliated with the Swedish Institute’s project to set up a Swedish Embassy, adding that they are talking about cooperation. The SLURL (direct location in Second Life) for Second Sweden is:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Second%20Sweden/128/128/0

An image of the start of construction on “Sydsvenska Dagbladet’s” island is here.