MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
October 30 – November 6, 2008 Edition
Barnes & Noble
Launches “My B&N”
Social Network
NEW YORK, NY (Authorlink News/10/30/08) – Barnes & Noble, Inc. announced this week the launch of “My B&N,” a fully-integrated web experience on Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com) that allows users to create free personal profiles around their life in books, music and movies.
Customized profile pages include a pen name and avatar; a virtual Library; new and improved list-making tools; expanded customer review and ratings features; and updates on local store events.
“Through My B&N, book lovers everywhere can create their literary identity, connect and share insights with other readers, discover and rate new products, and keep up to date on events in their local Barnes & Noble store,” said Tom Burke, executive vice president of e-commerce for Barnes & Noble.com.
“My B&N provides a virtual space where customers can linger and explore their varied interests, as they would at our stores.” The My B&N personalized experience begins with users creating a profile page, choosing an online pen name and selecting an avatar from an exclusive collection of colorfully designed characters.
On their profile page, users can create a virtual Library to showcase their most cherished books, music and movies, as well as share what they are “Reading Now.” Customers are reminded of their recent purchases so they can add these products to their Library, if they choose to. They also have the opportunity to identify their local Barnes & Noble stores, and to get updates on events there.
Through My B&N, users can now create and manage personalized lists that can be e-mailed to friends and family, shared on social networking websites like Facebook and Digg, or locked behind their password. Users can use the new listing features to identify their favorite titles, genres and contributors. They can have up to 25 Wish Lists to identify products for giving or receiving. And with the launch of EssentiaLists(tm), they can create up to 100 customized lists on any topic or theme they desire.
With My B&N, Barnes & Noble.com has also expanded its customer review and ratings tools, allowing users to ate products in much more detail and write reviews that link back to their profile pages. They can also rate the “most helpful” customer reviews and lists, which then become more prominent on Barnes & Noble.com.
The social features of My B&N build on the success of the Barnes & Noble Book Clubs, an online community where readers meet writers for literary conversation. More than 200 authors have participated in Book Club discussions, and readers have posted more than a quarter-million messages in the Book Clubs over the last two years. Several top authors are participating in discussions this fall, including Nelson DeMille, Gregory Maguire, James Patterson and Anne Rice.
Barnes & Noble.com is also home to a plethora of original content and programming developed through the Barnes & Noble Studio and the Barnes & Noble Review.
Barnes & Noble Studio, the premiere online destination for book-centric video, has generated more than 1.1 million video views in just six months, and the Barnes & Noble Review, featuring industry-heralded book reviews, recently celebrated its first anniversary. Along with the interactive Book Clubs, the offerings on Barnes & Noble.com provide an all-encompassing, multi-faceted resource for book lovers around the world.
