The data gathered during the research reveals four ways in which this happens: 1) using social media helps migrants to maintain strong ties with family and friends, lowering the threshold for migration; 2) social media can provide a means of communication with weak ties that are relevant when organising the process of migration and settlement; 3) using social media establishes a new infrastructure consisting of latent ties; 4) social media are a rich source of unofficial insider knowledge on migration. The paper concludes that social media are transforming migration networks and thereby lowering the threshold for migration.
Download WP-64-2012: How social media transform migrant networks and facilitate migration