Oh Facebook, how can I use thee?

So I tried and failed. So who cares! The idea was to use facebook communities to create conversations that would inspire my research for this project. But all I got was lame comments and nonsense. Are people just not in the mood when they're in facebook? are they more in a spectator mode? Do they just not want to think that deep?

I still believe there is hope to use online communities for research but how can we make it more relevant and compelling? Is it about

a) using more relevant types of communities? (eg. LinkedIn, Twitter, or another)
b) giving people something tangible to react to?
c) using humor to get people to participate?
d) what else!?!?!

Help me!!!!!