Lufthansa Joins Social Network Xiaonei, "Facebook of China"

(MoneyWatch)  About two months ago, I wrote about Lufthansa's efforts to develop its own social network. I said, "What Lufthansa should be doing is trying to create applications within existing networks that students might find useful." I received an email from Frank Bornemann, Lufthansa's Marketing Manager Greater China saying "We have heard you loud and clear." They've recently launched a group on the "Facebook of China," Xiaonei.

This actually seems like a smart way to use a social network. Frank does a very good job of explaining it himself.

We have identified students as a new target audience for us in China. Apart from introducing a flexibel [sic] student fare that allows students to have additional luggage allowance and open returns, we are positioning ourselves on the existing popular networking site Xiaonei as a travel facilitator, putting like minded students in touch with each other, providing them with visa and country information, offering constantly updated advice from other students currently studying in Europe, offer links to relevant sites,...

The heart of it, is defenitely [sic] the exchange of students with, and the ones without travel experience yet. We currently have about 150.000 Chinese students studying in Europe, which is still regarded as prestigeous [sic] in China. Many of these students are still very active in their native language on Xiaonei and stay in touch with their Chinese friends this way. We believe that we can offer a community service and give a subtle introduction to Lufthansa.

I tend to agree. Chinese students studying abroad is a relatively untapped market, and it's only going to grow over time. Developing a group on the existing social network makes it easy for them to reach and interact with Chinese students. And since this is probably an area where Chinese people are hungry for information from the outside, Lufthansa may do well. I wish I could go see for myself, but I don't know any Chinese languages. If anyone else does, please comment!