The comparative research paper explores the use and risks of social media in South African, USA and European schools. It discusses the potential challenges that schools, educators and learners may face such as cyberbullying, sexting, identity theft, fraud, catphishing, cybercrimes, excessive online presence, and addiction to social media. The paper reports on the findings of a phenomenological study and purposive survey among school principals and educators in South African schools. The paper highlights the advantages of applying social media in the classroom, and provides recommendations for schools, educators, parents and principals to manage the use of social media in the education environment. [For the complete Volume 21 proceedings, see ED629259.]