Community for international students in Sweden

Swedish social network

The Swedish Institute promotes Sweden and an important audience for them is the many international students who come to Sweden. The purpose of the web service is to build long-lasting relationships with those who have studied in Sweden. The online social community is also addressed to prospective and current students, who are able to take better advantage of each other's experience through a common meeting place. If they become satisfied students, they may, in the future, become good ambassadors of Sweden.

Faced with the project with the new community, the Swedish Institute made a feasibility study, which pointed out the students' priorities, in terms of value, function as well as other factors that maintain a relationship with Sweden.

Swedish Institute then turned to Ottoboni Group for the development of the online social community www.swedenintouch.se. Ottoboni Group proposed the EPiServer Relate platform for the project, as it contains, out of the box, many of the sought after features required for the site. Based on the feasibility study, the project team specified which features would be present at launch.

User-generated content

Visitors are met by an online social community, which is made entirely of member-generated content. The interface is specially designed to highlight people, members, activities and dynamic content.

The following features included

• My Profile: information about amember which other members can access
• Blog: read others, or create your own blog
• Bulletin board: publish short messages to other members
• Calendar: take part in activities in Sweden and abroad, or upload own events or activities
• Forum: discuss current issues with other members
• Network: join the network of universities or other networks created by students or organizations People: find friends from a course or the university they attended or from where they lived.

Non logged-in visitors can read almost all the content, but they are not able to create their own comments. Ottoboni Group's own module Interactive Scene was used to implement a simple update of the flash-based content

About the Swedish Institute

The Swedish Institute (SI) is a government agency with the aim to increase interest in Sweden for the world. Through strategic communication and exchange in culture, education and science the Swedish Institute promotes cooperation and long-term relationships with other countries. Operations are conducted in close cooperation with Swedish and foreign partners and with the Swedish embassies and consulates.