At first glance it seems as if social media is the exact opposite of a diasporic community, however upon closer inspection it is rather plain to see that there is in fact a lot in common between diasporic networks and social media. Kuttainen (quoting Edwards, 2008) explained what a diasporic networks, stating ‘groups of people who have been removed or displaced from their homelands due to territorial disputes, war, forced migration or immigration’. Along this line of reasoning it is difficult to see any kind of connection between this idea and social media however Ma Mung (2005) states that information passes through diasporic networks. The idea that social media is little more than a hub of communication and information is pervasive and prevalent. So, what more obvious proof could you possibly need at this point? Ma Mung (quoting Rigoni, 1997) states "Is it enough for migrants to develop and then maintain transnational associative networks to classify them as diasporas?"; as social media users hop from one popular site to the next to think of these people as diasporas themselves.
Well, perhaps looking at how social media sites work and interact with users could provide some interesting insight into the connections of diasporic communities and the ones that exist on social media. Building on the ideas presented in my previous blog regarding the construction of collective identity and information provided by Kuttainen (2015), it seems to me that new users to a site feel pressured (albeit unknowingly) to maintain the status quo of how interactions occur such as the use of certain speech patterns unique to the particular site, for example Twitter encourages the use of hashtags. The constant interaction and communication between users seems to be proof enough for me that the idea of diasporic networks is evolving.
References
Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002 Week Seven Lecture Slides. Retrieved from https://www.learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Ma Mung, E. (2005). Diaspora, Spatiality, Identities. Comparative European Research in Migration, Diversity and Identities. University of Deusto: Bilbao
Image Reference
Social Media World Map. (2012). [Image] Retrieved from http://topnettools.com/6350/social-media-world-map/
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