Research In Brief English version of Social Networks Adoption Scale: A validation study Yasemin Koçak Usluel a , Mehmet Kokoç b,⇑ , Hatice Çıralı Sarıca a , Sacide Güzin Mazman Akar c a Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey b Center for Research and Application in Distance Education, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey c Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Us ßak University, Us ßak, Turkey article info Article history: Received 27 May 2015 Accepted 28 October 2015 Available online 30 October 2015 Keywords: Social networks Adoption Acceptance Social network adoption Facebook abstract The purpose of this study is to validate the English version of the Social Networks Adoption Scale developed by Usluel and Mazman (2009). The original scale consists of 21 items and 5 factors that include usefulness, ease of use, social effect, facilitating conditions and com- munity identity. An online sample of 109 Facebook users completed an internet version of the translated the scale from the USA, Germany, Turkey, and Canada. For the scale’s structural validity, first and second order confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients (0.90) and item total correlations were calculated to investi- gate reliability of the scale. Through validity study it was proven that English version of the scale was consisted of five factors. But as a result of the second order confirmatory factor analysis, correlation between social influence variable and adoption variable was found to be insignificant. Therefore, two items included in the social influence factor were extracted from scale. The results indicated that the English version of the Social Networks Adoption Scale consisting of 19 items and 5 factors provided valid and reliable measures of social networks adoption. The Social Networks Adoption Scale can provide an insight to educators about the adoption process of international students from different cultures who seek to use Facebook for educational purposes. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The improvements related to Web 2.0 applications brought about some descriptive studies on the usage of the technolo- gies. It was realized, in results of the studies, that some of Web 2.0 applications were adopted and diffused more quickly than others (Corrocher, 2011; Huang et al., 2013; Tyagi, 2012; Usluel and Altıntas ß, 2012). In this progression it could be stated that social networks are ahead of other Web 2.0 applications, one of them is Facebook, which exceeded 1.28 billion monthly active users in March 2014 (Facebook, 2014). It is crucial to understand why social networks are adopted quickly by heterogeneous groups in terms of age, gender, cul- ture, language, etc., and which factors are effective in this process. The use of theories and models regarding diffusion, accep- tance and adoption is seen in the process to answer those questions. In the literature, while initially only one model was used as a theoretical framework to explain adoption process (Korpelainen and Kira, 2013; Vishwanath and Goldhaber, 2003; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2015.10.007 0736-5853/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: usluelyasemin@gmail.com, kocak@hacettepe.edu.tr (Y.K. Usluel), mkokoc@ktu.edu.tr, kokocmehmet@gmail.com (M. Kokoç), h.cirali@gmail.com (H. Çıralı Sarıca), s.guzin@gmail.com (S.G. Mazman Akar). Telematics and Informatics 33 (2016) 484–492 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Telematics and Informatics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tele