There is a social aspect to our forum that just came with the software --- but we didn't want that part, so we actually shut off the social features, but some of the features still show up in the profile. (Which can be confusing).
We chose not to offer groups (friends) feature because that is another aspect we would have to monitor and just one more thing that could be subject to glitches. We are having a tough time just getting this forum updated -- much less all the friend and group features.
The other reason is we are not large enough really to have "friends" grouped off. And we are more forum heavy community rather than than profile heavy (like Facebook and MySpace are profile heavy). We are all friends here, and I didn't want our community divided or for any cliches to form as that can sometimes be intimidating for new members--- or for anyone to feel left out. So just by default -- by becoming a member, we are all part of the same group ----we are all just forum friends automatically. 