Bluenity

Bluenity is apparently ‘the first social network for travelers launched by an airline’ and the company behind this is KLM/AirFrance

Well… Where to start?
This could potentially be the biggest failure in the history of branded social networks!

Two are the main reasons for this…

First of all, you are trying to reach a complicated audience such as the traveling community, and of course you are trying to copy sites like Dopplr, however if you want to do it right try and stick to some of the best practices when launching a networking community like this

To try and connect people traveling to same destinations or, in a terribly spooky way, the ones boarding on a same flight, why closing this only to KLM/AirFrance flyers? You are probably loosing 90% of new potential users who may even be interested in your brand…They lost me immediately!

Also, why would I want to meet these random people boarding on the same plane as me? I am not sure there’s been any thought behind this at all…

Building a branded cost-effective platform like a social network is one of the many good strategies to reach both a non-existing and a loyal customer and start creating a conversation with them. Around Bluenity there is no trace of this…

BA Metrotwin got it right because of so many different elements…

First of all, I don’t have to be a BA frequent flyer to take advantage of any services offered by the site, and doing so you are increasing the chance for people loving the site to retain a higher affinity to the brand.

Secondly, they were smart enough to tap into one of the most frequent route BA has, London-New York, and creating a website users will find extremely useful when looking for hot-spots – even if I don’t fly BA or don’t fly at all!

Why should I be on Bluenity? What are the benefits for me to join such community?

Metrotwin is a great space for sharing information, gaining advice and connect with likeminded individuals… even during your trip! Bluenity looks to me like a tedious space where I could start being stalked by random people just because we share a same flight, probably twice a year … zero content, no brand affinity and a complete dull approach!