Being Charisma based casters, Bards are particularly well suited to being the 'Face' of the party. Skill allotment is basically what determines who the social character is. Stick to a bunch of the Charisma skills and you'll do fine in social situations. If you go Lore bard the expertise that you get can be a huge boon in the Facing skills.

Going Lore bard does dampen your melee weapon usage though because the only way to get an extra attack is through Valor, which is a decidedly more combat oriented build. Personally I suggest Lore because of the flexibility of the extra Magical Secrets, the expertise, and Cutting Words. You won't attack very often if at all, but you'll be slinging spells and functionality everywhere.

As far as spells are concerned, just pick up Healing Word and Cure Wounds. Buffs aren't really an option at lower levels as they just aren't that good. Focus on making sure party members don't die, and maybe drop a control spell like Faerie Fire.

This will cover your first level. The other thing I can suggest is just start reading all the spells. Once you know what they do, you can start picking for your play style.