November 28, 2005
Lunarstorm takes Swedish youth by (uhh...) storm

Lunarstorm, an online community on the lines of MySpace, has taken Sweden literally by storm, reports the International Herald Tribune. Much like Cyworld in Korea, the IHT notes that "more than 10 percent of Sweden's population is a member of the community, including more than 90 percent of the country's high school students." The community is proffitable - and the business model is similar to other succesful online communities - 60% of revenues come from advertising, and 40% from a Pro version of the service - that allows for extras like icons and pics.

"We are moving from the information society to the interaction society, and Lunarstorm is leading the trend," said Ola Ahlvarsson, chairman of Result, a Stockholm-based technology consulting company. "Young people here no longer accept a flow of information from above. They trust what they hear from friends on their network.

Read the entire article here