As a content creator and business owner, Facebook is absolutely horrible for reaching your audience through a page. Last I checked, reach was down around 6% - for people who already liked and followed your page. Then they want you to pay $5 to run a 24-hour ad that could reach about 700 people that might care about your product.
This platform, if properly developed and executed could seriously drain FB of creators and businesses alike. And like you said - I haven't spent but perhaps an hour total on Facebook since I joined here three weeks ago. It has nothing to offer me. This place has enormous potential, but the people gaining the most money from it are some of the quickest to cash out and abandon it. It's frickin' mind-boggling to me.
I've had a similar experience. Facebook used to be such a valuable tool to me to promote my books and writing. I worked hard to gain thousands of loyal readers who I've watched over the past year become totally disengaged on my author page due to stifled post outreach. I can only hope there are some sensible forward-thinking individuals willing to allow this wonderful experiment to blossom to its full potential.