Idiot's Guide to Facebook

One thing I'd suggest is to set every possible privacy or security setting to "Friends Only." You control who sees what, by deciding who you "friend."

Limit what shows up when someone searches your name to only the basics, name and photo, for example. It's wise to a bit of google research about "maximum privacy on FB" and it's not hard to set up. Revisit the topic periodically so you contine to limit what FB can do with your info or photos.

Close friends and family already know your info and IMHO, you want to avoid a lot of details of your life being readily available for identity thieves. I'd also suggest not allowing your date and year of birth to appear at all. You may want to list your high school, college, home town etc but may not want to add the year.

If you do those things you can enjoy using FB to see family photos and keep up with people. You can post photos yourself which they will enjoy. You can reply or "like" things they post, and yes, send private messages.

Just ignore all the adds. FB is very stealthy about putting in "suggested posts" they want you to click on, and there's a lot of commercialization in even your friends' posts. People get discounts for "Liking" things. Don't click on anything that doesn't come from people you know.

Google "facebook for dummies". Trying to get a few tips and pointers via this forum could just get you into deeper trouble. Get the book and you'll see the big picture and best practices.

Yes. You will initially get the cover page and whatever is "public-share" after you have been "friended" you will get further access. You can then send private messages via the middle icon at the top of the page. We use it to stay in contact with family and friends when we travel.