Here is some two cents--or maybe a few pennies more--from an unabashed youth liberationist who always has to get those pennies in ;-)

I think it's good to be careful, because really, there ARE lots of creepers on the internet, and some kids/teens/adults will add anyone on facebook who adds them.

Yes, it's always good to be careful when dealing with people you don't know, but most of these creepers are not truly dangerous, and show their true colors almost from the start, if not soon after you meet them. They are more a nuisance than anything else, and tend to leave kids alone if told to do so. There has never been a huge amount of crimes involving actual violence resulting from online communications between kids and adults, despite the prevalent social myth to the contrary. Further, fellow teens can be creepers also, and lead your kids into lots of trouble.

And I am now fascinated with the term "creeper," as I have noticed young women in the age range of 18-early 20s using that word a lot over the past two years in the various chat rooms. I have never heard a guy use it (other than myself, who picks up words from young women), but I have frequently heard young women using it, and, not to my surprise, I just saw you use it. It's fairly common these days for a guy to meet a young woman online, and one of her first questions are, "You're not going to turn out to be a creeper, are you?" (To which I give the most honest answer possible: "What does or does not constitute a 'creeper' is likely to be quite subjective.") I am wondering when the use of this term first became popular amongst young women, and how it eclipsed the simple use of "creep." Btw, if you want to see what a creeper actually looks like, and even hear what one sounds like, all you have to do is click on this link ⚠️ ↗.

It's better to let them use it but make sure they let you stay added on their facebook (so you can check if there is some weirdo making comments on there) and also to make it so their whole lives don't revolve around the internet and facebook. If they have other activities and hang around their friends in RL then you probably won't have to worry about them meeting up with someone you don't know.

This constitutes control and near-constant invasion of privacy, and in addition to being an arguably unethical, over-compensatory way of keeping kids "safe," you adroitly noted elsewhere in your post that kids will always find ways around parental monitoring. What it comes down to is this: parents ultimately cannot keep their kids out of trouble or danger; only their kids themselves can do that. And the only way to make this likely is proper education and guidance.

I guess it's a matter of parents giving age-appropriate restrictions and making sure they educate their kids, if the kid does something, like adds some 30 year old you don't know, then you put restrictions on them, but if they show they're being responsible and just using facebook to make comments with their friends, then they should be able to use it.

By "friends," I take it you mean friends in the same age group, who parents will usually assume are "safe" simply because of their age, which is a stereotype that is the reverse of the assumption that adults who befriend kids are always a "danger" to them. If kids did make friends with much older adults, there is a good reason why they would keep them secret. Our age segregated, hysteria-laden society does not breed trust and transparency between kids and their parents. This is what needs to be addressed the most.

I'd be more worried about all the cyberbullying that goes on with social networks and kids with cell phones than anything else.

Fully agreed, and it's usually peers who do this, not those adults named after Jack Ryder's yellow-skinned and green-haired alter-ego.