First, it’s interesting to see the SEC accepting online forums as a new means for official investor-to-management communications. Web 2.0 features like online forums are fast becoming prevalent on financial services firms’ sites – in the past two months alone, we’ve seen American Express, Bank of America and TD Ameritrade add Web 2.0 features to their websites. With the SEC now proposing a rule specifically geared toward sanctioning online forums, it seems that Web 2.0 functionalities are quickly moving beyond “next big thing” status and gaining a permanent foothold in the financial services industry.

It’s equally interesting to note that it’s the American Association for Retired Persons that opposes the SEC’s proposed rule, not a regulatory body like FINRA. AARP’s argument – that the new online forums would deter some of its members from participating in shareholder elections, presumably because they would be unaware of discussions that occurred in the online forums – is a valid (if somewhat convoluted) sticking point. After all, what good is a service if key users can’t (or won’t) utilize it?

This issue, of course, will be less pressing in the future as greater segments of the population grow computer- and Internet-savvy. But so long as Baby Boomers and the Greatest Generation lead the way in terms of investable assets, the push and pull between old-school reliability and new-school efficiency is something that brokerages, regulatory bodies, etc. will be forced to contend with.