Facebook is alright. You can set your privacy how you want it and it's nice to keep up with people.
I wouldn't bother if either you, your family or your friends are massive drama queens though.
Thankfully, mine aren't.
Facebook is great, generally speaking, the ones that like to put it down are the ones that have never used it, I have used it for 10 years without a single problem. I think it is some kind of status symbol to say they don't use it.
I like FB and Pinterest (took me a while to get the hang of it). Had a look at Twitter but almost immediately had 'followers' even though I hadn't posted anything so I give that a swerve now.
I don't think I would worry, Tilly. I do find Facebook useful to keep up with what family are doing. I just keep it very, very limited. (I think I have 16 'friends' registered.) The hard bit is keeping the ones you don't want, away - so I am alert to that. That is as far as I go.