Virtual friend blah de blah: It depends on the individual - personally, I use it to keep in touch with my real-world friends - I don't think I have more than a couple of friends on there who I don't know in real life. I know Lesrae in real life and, like me, he uses it to keep track of a scattered, disparate array of very good old friends.
Identity theft blah de blah: Like all technology, if you don't know how to use it, it can be dangerous. When you sign up, you can decide levels of privacy for all manner of things, to the extent that only your friends would be aware you'd even signed up. If you don't take the time to configure those things to your liking then no; they won't be configured to your liking. Despite all the security threats associated with going online at all, you still do, because you take the time to address those issues.
Generic religious fear: You're on your own with that.
A good friend of mine once told me he sometimes wishes that there was a bit of the net left for us geeks; somewhere that wasn't over-crowded with the general populous. Facebook isn't that, and that's what makes it so ubiquitous - I want to see my friends' photos, know how their kids are getting along, keep in touch with people I don't see so regularly, etc - what better way?
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