Having access to correct and up-to-date information during the migration journey and after arrival in Europe is crucial for refugees and migrants. However, issues like limited Wi-Fi access, lack of trust in sources and ever-changing circumstances can pose challenges. Distrust can be either based on previous negative experiences, especially in the case of official government sources, or a loose relationship. Refugees and migrants deal with this by combining different sources, cross-checking or researching.
Main sources
- Social network
- Friends and family in Europe
- Acquaintances met on the road or online
- Contact established on- and offline
- Social media
- Facebook is most heavily used
- Traditional news sources
- Movies
- TV
- Radio
- Newspapers
Resources
Borkert, M., Fisher, K.E. & Yafi, E. (2018). The Best, the Worst, and the Hardest to Find: How People, Mobiles, and Social Media Connect Migrants In(to) Europe. Social Media + Society. 1-11. DOI: 10.1177/2056305118764428.
Brunwasser, M. (2015). A 21st-century migrant’s essentials: Food, shelter, smartphone. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/world/europe/a-21st-century-migrants-checklist-water-shelter-smartphone.html [accessed on 12 January 2022]
Collyer, M. (2005). When do social networks fail to explain migration? Accounting for the movement of Algerian asylum-seekers to the UK. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(4), pp.699-718.
Dekker, R., & Engbersen, G. (2014). How social media transform migrant networks and facilitate migration. Global Networks, 14(4), pp.401–418.
Graf, H. (2018). Media practices and forced migration: Trust online and offline. Media and Communication,6(2), pp. 149–157, DOI: 10.17645/mac.v6i2.1281.
Kaufmann, K. (2018). Navigating a new life: Syrian refugees and their smartphones in Vienna. Information, Communication & Society, 21(6), pp. 882–898.
Merisalo, M. & Jauhiainen, S. (2021). Asylum-Related Migrants’ Social-Media Use, Mobility Decisions, and Resilience, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 19:2, pp. 184-198, DOI: 10.1080/15562948.2020.1781991.
Wall, M., Otis Campbell, M., & Janbek, D. (2017). Syrian refugees and information precarity. New Media & Society, 19(2), pp. 240–254, DOI: 10.1177/1461444815591967.
