Social networking sites are generally used for communication, social interaction, networking, collaboration, and entertainment purposes (Hew 2011; Selwyn, 2009; Usluel & Atal 2013). Although there are some research results in literature that social networking sites are used for collaboration, communication and information sharing purposes in educational context, there are also results stating that this usage is limited and social networking sites are not used that much in learning-teaching processes (Lampe, Wohn, Vitak, Ellison, & Wash., 2011; Usluel & Mazman, 2009; Usluel & Atal, 2013).

It draws attention that studies on the variable of the adoption of social networking sites gain intensity due to the fact that potential of social networks in educational respect and they are widely used. These studies are based on theories and models such as “Diffusion of Innovation Theory (Rogers, 1962)”, “Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1985)”, “Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989)” and “Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003)”. In parallel with the innovation in technology and its applications, it is seen that recent constructs are added to current theories and models. In this way, new models are suggested (Kwon & Wen, 2010; Lin & Lu, 2011; Nah & Saxton, 2013). However; it may be set forth that studies conducted through a complex approach are required to be performed in this respect, rather than the ones based on a single theory or model due to complex nature of social networking sites. The fact is that context, innovation and user characteristics influence user acceptance and adoption behavior (Mun, Jackson, Park & Probst, 2006). In this study, theoretical framework was established through a complex approach while analyzing the adoption process of social networking sites. According to this, adoption factors were determined as usefulness (Davis, 1989), ease of use (Davis, 1989; Rogers, 2003), social influence (Venkatesh, et al., 2003), facilitating conditions (Venkatesh et al., 2003) and community identity (Venkatesh et al., 2003). The literature review on this matter shows that usefulness (Mazman & Usluel, 2010) and social influence (Sánchez, Cortijo & Javed, 2014) are identified as the most important factors in the adoption of social networking sites. In the study by Bonero et al. (2014) on undergraduate students, social influence, effort expectancy (ease of use) and performance expectancy (perceived usefulness) were found to be statistically significant predictor of behavioral intention.

According to the Social Bakers’ report (2011), Turkey is the fourth country in the world in terms of number of Facebook users. Therefore, it can be stated that Facebook has largely accomplished its adoption process in Turkey. In this case how the possible potential of social networking sites can be utilized in educational contexts is taken as a major issue. From this point, the aim of this study in the educational context, is the comparative examination of teachers’ and students’ Facebook usage purposes and their adoption processes.

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