Come i social media stanno trasformando le reti delle migrazioni forzate

Today’s migrant is the proponent of a new culture of mobility, which implies not only a geographical shift, but also a digital dynamism. Despite the distance, the connection modes allow a continuous presence and facilitate the life of the migrant giving him the opportunity to stay in close contact with his loved ones and his community of origin. Internet is a key resource in providing the emotional support that allows to overcome the trauma of separation (Van Willigen says: "social networks can insulate people from depression") and to be "here and there at the same time". What does this imply for migrants? The erosion of the classical sociological interpretation in terms of "double absence": far from home, but also outside the host country’s social fabric? Or perhaps the opposite is true and that is that the new digital technologies are a deterrent to the social inclusion of the migrants as they provide virtual surrogate relationships? Moreover, in a world increasingly interconnected those who do not have the digital skills necessary to interact are not further excluded? My research project aims to provide answers to these questions. At the facilities centres run by Lai-momo cooperative society, which funds my PhD, I carried out a field research about the use of social media among the asylum seekers. The data that I collected through the administration of 82 anonymous questionnaires and eight in- depth interviews, show that the sample uses social media in particular to communicate with families and with close friends, rather than to look for new contacts and new friends in the host country. Using the categories identified by the political scientist Robert D. Putnam to describe the two different forms of social connectors, it can be argued that the social bonds (i.e. the strong ties) are reinforced by the use of the social media, while the social bridges (i.e. weak ties) no, because only 17% of the sample had Italian friends on Facebook and 55% of the sample say they never use social media to connect with new people. The Social Network Analysis shows that the weak ties produce the social capital that leads to the cooperation between groups and mutual trust. They act as a bridge allowing people to go beyond their own cohesive aggregate of links and connect to other aggregates. But my research results lead me to conclude that the use of the social media by the asylum seekers and the refugees don’t overcome the separation between these islands of disconnected aggregates, while they contribute the maintenance of family contacts (strong ties) which fulfils what Diminescu called "compulsion for proximity.