ARTICLE INFOThe aim of this study is to examine the acceptance of Social Studies teacher candidates for using short message services in education within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model with the example of WhatsApp. The research was carried out in the case study model, one of the qualitative research methods, and the use of WhatsApp for educational purposes by Social Studies teacher candidates was evaluated with the findings obtained from the data collected from 30 pre-service teachers with an open-ended interview form created within the framework of the Technology Acceptance Model. The data were analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and content analyses. It was discovered that social studies teacher candidates used WhatsApp mostly for sharing about courses, chatting, sharing photos and videos, voice and video calls, and status updates/following people, and that their educational purposes were sharing information/announcements, talking about assignments, collaboration, exchanging ideas, and communication. It was observed that social studies teacher candidates found the use of whatsapp for educational purposes useful in terms of sharing information, exchanging news on developments related to courses, saving time, increasing communication and cooperation, creating group awareness, and exchanging ideas. The participants stated that the WhatsApp application was preferred in terms of economy, prevalence, functionality, and performance and that they would use it for educational purposes in their future professional lives, to establish teacherstudent interaction, teacher-parent interaction, and student-student interaction.