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Do You Xiaonei? Lufthansa Does.

Despite some less than desirable results, airlines have started wading into social networking. Lufthansa got a half-hearted "meh" out of us earlier this year with the debut of GenFlyLounge, its brand-specific social site aimed at college kids. But now that the carrier has launched a group on Xiaonei, a 15-million strong network that calls itself the Facebook of China, we're starting to think they're more savvy than we first thought.

You can't check out the group without creating a Xiaonei profile (or signing in), but Lufthansa's Chinese marketing manager explained the new effort to aviation obsessive Brett Snyder:

We have identified students as a new target audience for us in China. Apart from introducing a flexible 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.

Participating in the network and adding value for users instead of walling them off from their existing contacts? Lufthansa really does do things differently in China!

Related Stories:
· Lufthansa Joins Social Network Xiaonei, “Facebook of China” [BNet]
· Lufthansa Getting in the Facebook Game. Without Facebook. [Jaunted]