Getting to Europe the Whatsapp Way: The Use of ICT in Contemporary Mixed Migration Flows to Europe

Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat Briefing Paper, 2016

16 Pages Posted: 2 Nov 2016

See all articles by Bram Frouws

Bram Frouws

Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS)

Melissa Phillips

University of Melbourne - School of Social and Political Sciences; New York University (NYU) - Center on International Cooperation

Ashraf Hassan

Independent

Mirjam Twigt

University of Leicester, Students

Date Written: June 2016

Abstract

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and social media became a key characteristic of mixed migration flows to Europe in 2015 and 2016. Both before but increasingly also during migration, migrants and refugees rely on their smartphones and social media such as Facebook, Twitter and applications such as WhatsApp, Skype, Viber and Google Maps, to get information on routes and intended countries of destination, to foster contact between smugglers and brokers or to reach out to others when in distress. Drawing on recent findings and reports, this paper proposes a typology of ways in which ICTs and social media are used by migrants and refugees before and especially during irregular migration.

Keywords: ICTs, Migrants, Refugees, Irregular Migration, Social Media

Suggested Citation

Frouws, Bram and Phillips, Melissa and Hassan, Ashraf and Twigt, Mirjam, Getting to Europe the Whatsapp Way: The Use of ICT in Contemporary Mixed Migration Flows to Europe (June 2016). Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat Briefing Paper, 2016, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2862592 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2862592

Bram Frouws

Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS) ( email )

DRC Horn of Africa & Yemen
Lower Kabete Road
Nairobi, 00800
Kenya

Melissa Phillips (Contact Author)

University of Melbourne - School of Social and Political Sciences ( email )

Level 4, John Medley Building
Melbourne, VIC 3010
Australia

New York University (NYU) - Center on International Cooperation ( email )

726 Broadway
Suite 543
New York, NY 10003
United States

Ashraf Hassan

Independent ( email )

Mirjam Twigt

University of Leicester, Students ( email )

University Road
Leicester
United Kingdom

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