Should I create an account on a social media service?

[epicicity]

Yes, I think you should.

There is no 'requirement' that you use your real name or post real pictures of yourself.

Using your real name, I think, would be a good idea, because that way maybe people you knew in the past might somehow run across your social media page. [Can you believe that I am best friends again with a girl (now a woman) who I dated briefly for a year in high-school 30 YEARS AGO? It's incredible. Just friends, remember. Yet wow, thanks to social media, she is back as a best friend. She also helps me out in the real world as well ... even though she lives 100 miles away from me.]

Social media is worth the risk.

If you get girls or guys you don't know asking if you want to be 'friends' with them on the site, you can either accept or reject those 'friend' requests. You're not going to be on Earth forever. Take a few risks. If you 'friend' someone on a social site and then the person turns out to be, shall we say, unlikable, simply delete that person from your 'friends' list.