The most popular social media application is Facebook. Launched in 2004, by the end of the decade it had close to 600 million users. Even though Facebook is the largest social media application it wasn’t the first. Back in the mid to late 90’s the server Geocities gave users the opportunity to create their own websites. Around the same time blogging started and the first of the social networks began. In 1997 Sixdegrees.com launched and was the first websites that allowed people to create a profile and add a list of friends (TSIKERDEKIS/Zeadally). Soon after in 2002 Friendster began and the idea of a social network became very popular, and within three months Friendster gained three million users. Well, you know the rest, Myspace, Twitter, and social marketing all became very popular, but with some risks. Privacy became an issue, and protection of user information, plus the threat of deception, and online predators have become real problems. How are these social media applications taking privacy and protection seriously? Who is running these websites? With the lack of a standard for protection for users on social media, social media has become a breeding ground for predators and deception. In the past year several companies were hacked - Target, The Home Depot, Sony, and Michaels were hacked. Almost 300 million people had their financial records and private information leaked. I’m sure you’re asking what does this have to do with social media. These are big companies with sophisticated software to protect them, and it failed. If it can fail with them you can only imagine what information people are getting off your Facebook page, Twitter account, or even your mobile phone. For me the biggest fear is online predators. Children have access to social media sites not only through their computer at home but also on their phone. More and more children have access to social media not by the computer at home or a friend’s house but also on their phone. Social media is everywhere. I have 12-year-old twins at home and I monitor their Internet usage. They are not allowed to have Facebook, or any other social media site. Of course I hear the “why can’t I?” and the reason is simple. I didn’t have it when I was growing up, we talked the old fashion way in person, wrote them a letter, called them on the phone, and of course the look of total disbelief is priceless. Cyberbullying is also a threat. It also goes with the fear of online predators, it is bad enough our children get bullied at school, now they can take it to a new level and do it through social media like Twitter or Facebook. With all the information that is shared on social media sites it is easy to figure out who is who. Businesses also can experience bad effects of social media. Communication with customers is no longer face to face. A lot of the times you fill out an online questionnaire, and somebody may or may not get back to you. Also if somebody has a negative experience with your business it can spread like a wild fire with social media sites like Yelp. So where do we begin? Social Media is a good and a bad thing. For me personally I believe that it can be a bad thing and it can be good. There are too many things that can happen, for example with the hacking of Target. According to an article in Bloomberg Business week “Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It” it states, “The biggest retail hack in U.S. history wasn’t particularly inventive, nor did it appear destined for success. In the days prior to Thanksgiving 2013, someone installed malware in Target’s (TGT) security and payments system designed to steal every credit card used at the company’s 1,797 U.S. stores. At the critical moment-when the Christmas gifts had been scanned and bagged and the cashier asked for a swipe-the malware would step in, capture the shopper’s credit card number, and store it on a Target server commandeered by the hackers.” Also according to the article, six months earlier Target began installing a virus detection tool especially for malware at the cost of $1.6 million dollars. The company th