Social Media and Migration Research

E. McGregor and Melissa Siegel ()

No 2013-068, MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)

Abstract: The use of internet technologies in daily life has risen dramatically in recent years, increasing researchers interest in how social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are changing social realities and potentially facilitating innovative research methodologies. As technology and migration are considered prominent drivers of the globalization processes, the increasing interest of migration researchers isunsurprising. Nevertheless, given the relative youth of research in this field, approaches to the topic differ. By taking a step back and viewing the literature from a wide range of disciplines, this paper provides a broad overview of the current state of research on migration and social media in four key areas 1 the use of social media to trigger and facilitate migration in both positive networks and negative ways human trafficking; 2 the role of social media and migrant integration; 3 the use of social media in diaspora engagement; and 4 the use of social media in conducting migration research. This paper adds to the literature by being the first systematic review of the topic.

Keywords: International Migration; Media; Information and Internet Services; Economic Development; Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration; Technological Change; Diffusion Processes; Technological Innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 L82 L86 O15 O33 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-ict, nep-int, nep-mig and nep-soc
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2013/wp2013-068.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unm:unumer:2013068

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ad Notten ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).