Social studies teachers' motivation to share in teacher groups on Facebook: A netnographic case study

The purpose of this study is to reveal the patterns behind social studies teachers' participation and their motivation to share in online learning community groups on Facebook. The study adopted netnography design, which is the adaptation of ethnography among the qualitative research methods to the virtual environments. In the first stage of the study, a total of 2402 posts between November 2020 and March 2021 in the groups entitled "Turkish Social Studies Department", "Social Studies Information and Visual Archive" and "Social Studies Teachers" with the highest number of members were examined. In the second stage of the study, the expression "I post on Facebook because ………..." was shared and the social studies teachers were encouraged to comment to determine their opinions on the reasons for sharing in these groups. In the third stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted on the reasons for sharing in the groups with 16 participants determined through criterion sampling technique based on the active sharing in those online communities. Content analysis was performed on the obtained data in the first stage. The data obtained in the second and third stages of the study were analysed through content analysis. The research findings revealed that social studies teachers mostly shared regarding the themes of course materials, solidarity, personal development, current issues, and general knowledge. The patterns behind the motivation of social studies teachers to share in Facebook groups are found to be helpful to their coterie of teachers, solidarity, helping based on the feeling of family atmosphere, contributing to professional development, feeling happy when sharing, being popular among their coterie of teachers, making new friends by communicating, setting an example for their group and giving insightful ideas. The research results revealed that the teachers wish to be useful to their group, to give advice on every subject, to be in unity and solidarity, and to be recognized as a source of inspiration for their group, by considering the group(s) as a family where they feel they belong, by sharing different studies, documents, current information and news, and personal development. Suggestions were made to social studies teachers about Facebook groups and the researchers for future studies in light of the overall results of the study.