Facebook makes its money by selling data about you. You are not their customer, but their product. So if you value online privacy (such as it is, and what there is of it) don't go on facebook. Be aware that social networking sites like facebook and twitter and advertisement sellers like google track you wherever you go online. For that reason I advise anybody to install a script blocker (like e.g. noscript for firefox) in their browser so you can decide what to allow on which sites.

Mailing lists are more private. You can choose to join. And the administrator can choose wether to make the archives available online. There are excellent free mailing list programs available, like mailman.

Roland --- I totally agree, and I don't use Facebook for anything personal. Unfortunately, Facebook seems to have won the social networking war, at least among the folks I know, so if you want to social network, it's your best option. (I mostly just choose not to social network. )

I wish email lists would make a comeback, since I vastly prefer them. But my understanding is that young people these days don't even use email at all! For them, it's all texting or using Facebook messages.

Our neighborhood uses Nextdoor. I believe it lets someone define the neighborhood area however big or small you want it to be. There are no ads or anything and it's private so people have to be verified to actually live there to be accepted to the small list. It may be worth looking into if you have time.

nextdoor.com

I am a firm believer in waving. We live in the boonies on a gravel road and not much traffic goes by here, but we wave at everyone - even if we can't see who is in the car. I spend a lot of time outside in decent weather and people watch for me [and the ducks]. It does slow traffic. Ours was one of the few houses not burgled by the local teen troublemaker - probably because I waved at him every day. When the roads are so bad that people can't make it up our hill, they can park by the bottom and we'll ferry them home in the 4wd. It rarely happens, but it has gone a long way to building good feelings around here. Note: we are not a close community. There are no get-togethers. We don't all see each other in church. We don't even know each others' names. But when there's trouble, we can count on each other to help out. All because we take the time to wave.

One of my favorite community building books is "Creating a Life Together" by Diana Leafe Christian. She has done a lot of consulting work with intentional communities, helping them overcome conflicts, work their way through intractable conflicts, and there is even a thorough discussion on finding land and setting up legal arrangements. I love this book because it is so practical. There are case studies from several different types of communities, both rural and urban/cohousing, and all sorts of different social arrangements (income sharing, tenant situations, etc). It's a really good book to give you a realistic view of community life. Finally, the resources section is incredibly helpful.

I know I've probably recommended it on your blog before, but if you haven't yet read it, then I definitely recommend it now.