Groups vs. Forum Categories

[Kane]

Hi everyone, my first post here :)

I just created my ning site (http://awakeningplanet.org) and I am still not sure if I should go with Forum/Categories or with Groups in order to create "boxes/areas" for specific discussions so they are "organized".

I love the groups because we can name them, add a description and add a photo to each so right away new visitors get a feel for them and the site in general, but I am afraid the posts might get too "boxed in" and that without the Forum feed module on the homepage it might be a pain for members to check group by group (though I did clean out the latest activity feed to only show very few items such as new posts, blogs, videos and photos etc, so I guess that could replace the forum module??).

What do you guys think/recommend? Thanks!

P.S. another benefit of the groups in my mind is that I can place a google ad inside of each in the text box just above the discussion wall which I don't think I would be able to with the forum categories.