Barnes & Noble's Social Networking

B&N has announced their own entry into the 'social networking' world with My B&N. Unlike Shelfari (now owned by Amazon), LibraryThing, or Goodreads, B&N is quite obvious about its retail tie-in, which probably won't work for most readers but will do well for people who really, really like Barnes & Noble. B&N has always prided itself on being a friendly, comfortable place to be in its retail locations, and they'll probably stick with that methodology in their online store, too. The retail stores have long been called a good place to meet members of the opposite sex; maybe they've inadvertently created an online dating website? It always amazes me that there's room in the world for more than two or three social networking sites; Amazon went by buying an established network, but B&N is building on little more than their existing customer base. It seems like a lot of work for very little return, other than to impress investors with new Web 2.0 whirlygigs.