Facing down Facebook

I had opened an account with Facebook several months ago but had really made no use of it. My original idea had been to look into comment about political issues in Ottawa as they were reflected in the Facebook comments. I found it a bit frustrating to find anything meaningful and didn't look at Facebook again, even though I had the account.
Then I started to receive some e-mail messages with links into Facebook images of relatives and I did look to see photos they had posted.
This time, on returning to Facebook at Betty's instruction, I've looked around a bit more. I need to see how Facebook can be used to rally people around specific issues or common experiences. I am a little concerned that I may spend a fair bit of time to get to the point that I can see how Facebook can actually be useful.
I do have some concern about the privacy aspect of Facebook and I should look at the supplementary material pointed out by Betty to understand the issue better. I was surprised to see that earlier I had posted my birthdate for all to see in my profile. On reflection I'm not sure that is a good idea and I have changed the info that is provided.
I think I will use Facebook in the future, not because I now completely see how I can best use it, but rather because others use it and I expect I have to communicate with them. It's a bit like learning a new language -- it would be simpler for me if everyone just used my language, but if I want to really communicate with the natives, I better learn some of their language.