Blending Linguistic and Social Entrepreneurship on Online English Tutors’ Facebook Profiles

ABSTRACT A key phenomenon in contemporary language education is its spread beyond conventional spaces, visible through different forms of shadow education—teaching and learning organized in parallel to established, state‐regulated structures. While traditional shadow education continues to play a role, a more recent trend is for online informal education, particularly on social media. A key challenge for online shadow educators is to achieve visibility in the congested, highly competitive marketplace. This article presents three case studies of how popular English tutors in Thailand sought to achieve visibility through strategic positioning on Facebook. We draw on a sample of posts collected from each tutor's Facebook profile, reading these against data on followers’ engagement (reactions, comments) and through reflections obtained through semi‐structured interviews of nine followers. Our findings show that all three tutors acted strategically to broaden their identities beyond English, acting not only as expert teachers but also as spokespersons on wider social issues. In other words, the tutors acted not only as linguistic entrepreneurs by monetizing their English and their ability to teach it but also as social entrepreneurs who derive economic benefit from speaking on behalf of a wider constituency in public discourse.