I think it is simply brilliant! it's true that MMOs need a better social tool to keep stats of characters and interact with one another, after all, what is massively multiplayer if they can only access information on their own kin and perhaps one or two pcs on the friend list?

Social trends aside, I also think that this is an excellent idea to bring extra revenue into the business project without interfering with the game itself. Much like other social websites, this one can track your likes and in game personality to advertise things in the real or virtual world (much like google or yahoo!).

I'm very happy with Turbine, I hope they keep up the good work :)