I agree Facebook *could* conquer discussion forums if they cared to, but it doesn’t appear to be on their radar. No doubt they are a tad preoccupied with trying to work out how to make money! When they removed the discussion tab I had hopes they’d integrate the functionality somehow in the newsfeed but it would appear not!

Just as Facebook Timeline has provided a digital archive of anyone’s life, there’s potential with their Groups offering. But I regret their withdrawal of email notifications; Yahoo Group’s listserv engine was efficient and effective at encouraging discussion; scanning one’s Facebook Newsfeed for new discussion posts amongst a preponderance of banal notifications has a hard time competing for attention.

I’ve always liked Lonely Planet’s guidelines that state – “if you don’t agree with them [the guidelines], we won’t take it personally, and nor should you when we suggest that lonelyplanet.com might not be the best place for you.”