Social media, the internet and diasporas for development

The recent focus on diasporas by policy-makers and researchers has highlighted the rich potential of migrants as a force for shaping development activities in their countries of origin. This paper describes and discusses the potential of the internet for identifying and interviewing diaspora individuals on their connections with their countries of origin.

The paper sheds light on the e-recruitment strategies used to access a widely dispersed diaspora. In this sense, the authors argue that social networking sites (SNSs) provide a powerful new tool for diaspora research to supplement other methods.

Main conclusions of the paper include:

• diasporas are spontaneously using SNSs for all kinds of online networking activity, so providing contact details on public sites which can be readily accessed by the researcher
• although SNSs are relevant tool, abandonment of other methods is inadvisable since there are diaspora members who are not accessible through SNSs
• the internet can be used in combination with the mail-out survey to identify and interview various professional and cultural group members.
  

The remainder of the paper focuses on a case study of the Southern African diaspora in Canada.