Translation of dismal in German

Sometimes you forget one word and this makes the entire sentence sound differently. That means that you need to read each email before sending it twice at least if you want to be on the safe side every time.
It is called Facebook viral marketing. I'm 62 and it's somewhat mystifying, but my two boys are using it continuously. What I'm a bit afraid of is the personal information they send to everybody. It has no privacy.
I guess the whole idea is about improvement, correct? How are you these days anyway. Since I want to practice a bit, I decided to join here. I'll be happy to start with you. Let us try it.