The concept of social capital derives from the work of Bourdieu (1992) and Coleman (1988), and has been advanced by Putnam (1995, 2000) and Lin (1999) amongst others. It can be defined as: “the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition” (Bourdieu, 1992, p. 119). Thus, unlike other forms of capital, social capital manifests itself in those resources obtainable from the relationships and interactions between and among people (Coleman, 1988) within their social networks. Social capital can be either
between weak ties, people who do not know each other and who have different backgrounds or views. Bonding social capital, on the other hand, is the benefits and support gained from strong ties, those exchanges that take place between people who are in close relationships such as family or friends.
Online networks revolve primarily around weak ties, much like they do in the real world (Hermida, 2014). In his influential thesis entitled “The Strength of Weak Ties”, Granovetter (1973) argued that in order to gather new information and resources (a crucial exercise for migrants prior to migrating), weak ties are often more valuable than strong ties. In tight knit communities, where everybody knows each other, the same information is shared and perpetuated. Casual acquaintances, on the other hand, move in different social networks and have access to new and unique information. In other words, weak ties in a social network are more likely to have information not previously held by the individual or by the individual’s strong ties (Granovetter, 1973), such as job opportunities for new migrants. Weak ties, online and offline, thus serve as bridges between different communities, allowing information to be shared between and among a larger range of social circles, and to spread by word of mouth. In this sense, if one of the key motivators for participating online is “the desire to be heard” (Hermida, 2014, p. 37), social media provide the platform for continuous and unparalleled opportunities for reaching a larger audience of weak and strong ties.
Researchers have investigated how social capital is created by and through SNSs. The use of these sites has been associated with greater levels of social capital (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010; Coleman, 1988), including the benefits that derive from
bridging social capital and bonding social capital. Research in this area has focused on how people connect with one another on Facebook to gain social capital and thereby improved well-being and life satisfaction (Barker, 2009; Burke et al., 2010; Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Mehdizadeh, 2010; Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008; Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009; Zywica & Danowski, 2008). For example, Ellison et al. (2007) determined that there is a strong relationship between Facebook use intensity and bridging social capital. However, they also found that Facebook intensity predicted increased levels of what they call maintained social capital, that is, one’s ability to maintain contact with strong ties. In terms of migrants, Lášticová’s (2014) study of the use of new media by Slovak migrants to build social capital in the UK, revealed that certain platforms, especially Facebook and Skype, contribute to maintained social capital through contact with pre-existing strong ties in their home country of Slovakia. Drawing from a pilot study with 36 Slovaks living in the UK, and on a content analysis of the main Facebook page for Czechs and Slovaks in the UK, Lášticová (2014) demonstrated that Facebook is primarily used for sharing emotions about life in the UK with strong ties.
In addition, in a study of more than 1000 English-speaking adult Facebook users, Burke et al. (2010) investigated the correlation between Facebook communication (wallposts, comments, “likes”, status updates, photos, friends’ conversations) and social capital, and concluded that communication on Facebook is inextricably linked to feelings of bonding social capital which, in turn, reduces feelings of loneliness. Moreover, in a random web survey of college students across Texas, Valenzuela et al. (2009) identified positive relationships between intensity of Facebook use and
students’ life satisfaction and social trust.
Researchers in the field of migration studies have also explored the correlation between social media and migration through the analysis of how the creation of weak ties between individuals on social media facilitates the experience of migration (Dekker & Engbersen, 2013a; Komito, 2011; Komito & Bates, 2009). For new migrants, the loss of social capital is demonstrable. Migrants often leave their family and friends behind in order to move to a new country where they may not have any affiliation with any other groups. Belonging to migrant social networks online, however, is a significant means for regaining social capital within the host country. As we will see (Chapters Five and Six), this is why when new Italian migrants join online networks, such as online communities on Facebook groups, they reaffirm their group membership and identity, activating a sense of being and belonging.
In their qualitative study of 90 in-depth interviews with Brazilian, Ukrainian and Moroccan migrants in the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Dekker and Engbersen (2013a) revealed that social capital within migrant networks could help lessen the risks and challenges associated with migration. In particular, they showed that weak ties in host countries sometimes function as “pioneers” (p. 408), providing tangible assistance (or support) to new migrants – for example, to find
accommodation or employment. Social media can thus strengthen the capital of migrants as well as their access to information about the host country. This may serve to lower the threshold (Dekker & Engbersen, 2013a) for aspiring migrants to migrate by creating an information infrastructure (pp. 405-406) which allows for the
exchange of unofficial insider knowledge on migration (p. 406). This, in turn, makes migrants more streetwise about migrating and about the host country (p. 9). Social capital is, in other words, not only facilitated and increased by social media, but also the formation of weak ties within online networks may even develop into strong ties.
Further, engaging with other migrants on social media in order to become streetwise before migrating to a host country may also serve as an essential means of shaping more realistic expectations. This was demonstrated in a study carried out by Horst (2006), which examined the transnational communication between Jamaicans in Jamaica and their friends and family abroad. Horst (2006) highlighted the fact that virtual interaction, especially transnational communication via mobile phones, often provided “more realistic expectations of the migration experiences and opportunities associated with living abroad” (p. 155).
In this respect, social media can be conceptualised as “critical hubs of information distribution” (Oiarzabal, 2012, p. 1470) which enable migrants to come together to share their experiences of living, studying or working in a new country, as well as to express challenges that arise during the process of migration. Indeed, in studying how Basque diasporas use Facebook groups, Oiarzabal (2012) found that Basque social capital may be increased through Facebook use because it promotes sharing
information and interacting with other group members. Facebook groups, he argues, can expand offline activities because Facebook makes it easier for people to interact with other migrants offline (pp. 205-211).
As mentioned above, the dissemination of large volumes of information is a common characteristic of any social media site. As boyd (2014) notes, “…the ease with which people can share and spread information on social media is unrivalled, which can be both powerful and dangerous” (p. 12). For prospective migrants, this access to
information can indeed be powerful as it allows for the spreading of a large amount of useful and practical information about how to prepare for migration to a new country and what to expect post-migration. However, it can also be dangerous because the information given by other migrants could be falsified or unrealistic, which can potentially “manipulate migrants by offering jobs or partners that turn out to not be there, or to be very different than expected” (Dekker and Engbersen, 2012, p. 404).
Nonetheless, in their study of the impact of SNSs on migration strategies and integration, Komito and Bates (2009) found that potential Polish migrants to Dublin have access to information about the host country and contacts with Polish people in Dublin before migrating; in fact, many of their participants joined an online
community before even leaving Poland, acquiring emotional and other support. In a subsequent study of social media uses among Polish and Filipino ethnic minority groups in Ireland, Komito (2010) showed that social media enable migrants to both extend their personal networks (i.e. to build bridging capital with other migrants) and to maintain participation in and feelings of membership to their country of origin (bonding capital). Social media use for migrants can therefore facilitate migration through the maintenance of both strong and weak ties between individuals and groups.
In another example, Collin’s study (2014) of newly arrived, so called fourth-wave Chilean migrants to Australia showed that not only do certain online communication technologies, such as Facebook, facilitate new forms of ties between Chilean
migrants, but also connections between Chileans and non-Chileans in Australia, thus engendering feelings of both being and belonging for migrants. Collin suggests that a hyper-digital transnationalism has emerged which complicates the experience of migration by bringing together distant geographical places – of future residency or traditional home – into everyday life, and that this blurs the journey between departure from the home country and arrival in the host country. Indeed, some of Collin’s interviewees cited feelings of being in-between countries because their use of online communication to connect to other Chileans in Australia, as well as their ability to be in constant contact with their friends and family back home, seemed to preclude or prolong the idea of having actually left Chile.
Relatedly, as demonstrated in Sawyer and Chen’s (2012) research on social media’s influence on migration among international students in the U.S, social media can create a sense of “interconnectedness” through the online interactions and
conversations that people have with their family and friends back home. Social media thus facilitate the migration process by helping individuals cope with the challenges of adjusting to a new country, especially during the initial stages of the migration process when “… they experienced culture shock, and communicating with people who they were familiar with provided them with a sense of comfort” (p. 165).
Further, as discussed in Chapter Two, the use of social media to gain social capital is exemplified by a recent case study of Italian cohorts in Australia carried out by Baldassar and Pyke (2014). They found that the cohort of newly arrived Italian migrants (post-2000) remains strongly connected to Italy through regular expressions of intimacy online with their family and friends back home. They also reported that before migrating, this cohort utilises a variety of online communication to seek out weak ties, that is, professional Italian contacts already in Australia from whom they can get advice about employment opportunities. Nonetheless, as discussed in Chapter Two, their study does not consider the role that Facebook plays in the lives of these new Italian migrants. As I have argued, Facebook is now a much more utilised medium through which new migrants gain relevant, insider information and support.