I love FB for a lot of things, but for conversations that last more than two hours, it's terrible. Ideas disappear, conversations are ethereal, and here in the US, it's hard for us to convert that space into meaningful civic space. They've done that in the Mid-East, but in the US, we prefer it for sharing pictures of family and friends and the occasional piece of political journalism.

It's really the way ideas disappear in FB and Twitter that we're trying to correct with the Civic Commons. But you make a really good point. I sometimes wonder if we made a mistake by trying to create yet another place for people to come to. It's like putting up a new restaurant next to the one run by an Iron Chef. Kind of a long shot.