Displacement and Return in the Internet Era: How Social Media Captures Migration Decisions in Northern Syria

doi:10.1596/1813-9450-10024

Publication:
Displacement and Return in the Internet Era: How Social Media Captures Migration Decisions in Northern Syria

dc.contributor.author	Walk, Erin
dc.contributor.author	Garimella, Kiran
dc.contributor.author	Christia, Fotini
dc.date.accessioned	2022-05-03T18:23:56Z
dc.date.available	2022-05-03T18:23:56Z
dc.date.issued	2022-04
dc.description.abstract	Starting in 2011, the Syrian civil war has resulted in the displacement of over 80% of the Syrian population. This paper analyzes how the widespread use of social media has recorded migration considerations for Syrian refugees using social media text and image data from three popular platforms (Twitter, Telegram, and Facebook). Leveraging survey data as a source of ground truth on the presence of IDPs and returnees, it uses topic modeling and image analysis to find that areas without return have a higher prevalence of violence-related discourse and images while areas with return feature content related to services and the economy. Building on these findings, the paper first uses mixed effects models to show that these results hold pre- and post- return as well as when migration is quantified as monthly population flows. Second, it leverages mediation analysis to find that discussion on social media mediates the relationship between violence and return in months where there are fewer violent events. Monitoring refugee return in war prone areas is a complex task and social media may provide researchers, aid groups, and policymakers with tools for assessing return in areas where survey or other data is unavailable or difficult to obtain.	en
dc.identifier	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099859204262232856/IDU0a37431c60b4a50431f08ccb0e624be8373c4
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/1813-9450-10024
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/37370
dc.language	English
dc.publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Policy Research Working Paper;10024
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holder	World Bank
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	SOCIAL MEDIA DISCUSSION MONITORING
dc.subject	TRACKING SOCIAL MEDIA DISCUSSION
dc.subject	REFUGEES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
dc.subject	DISPLACED PEOPLE
dc.subject	SYRIAN REFUGEES
dc.subject	DISPLACEMENT
dc.subject	CIVIL WAR
dc.subject	SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
dc.title	Displacement and Return in the Internet Era	en
dc.title.subtitle	How Social Media Captures Migration Decisions in Northern Syria	en
dc.type	Working Paper	en
dc.type	Document de travail	fr
dc.type	Documento de trabajo	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2022-04-26
okr.date.lastmodified	2022-04-26T00:00:00Z	en
okr.doctype	Policy Research Working Paper
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.docurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099859204262232856/IDU0a37431c60b4a50431f08ccb0e624be8373c4
okr.guid	099859204262232856
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/1813-9450-10024
okr.identifier.externaldocumentum	33802945
okr.identifier.internaldocumentum	33802945
okr.identifier.report	WPS10024
okr.imported	true	en
okr.language.supported	en
okr.pdfurl	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099859204262232856/pdf/IDU0a37431c60b4a50431f08ccb0e624be8373c4.pdf	en
okr.region.country	Syrian Arab Republic
okr.topic	Conflict and Development::Disaster Management
okr.topic	Conflict and Development::Peace & Peacekeeping
okr.topic	Conflict and Development::Post Conflict Reconstruction
okr.topic	Information and Communication Technologies::ICT Applications
okr.topic	Information and Communication Technologies::Poverty Reduction & ICT
okr.topic	Social Development::Post Conflict Reintegration
okr.unit	Social PM (SSIGL)
relation.isSeriesOfPublication	26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87
relation.isSeriesOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	26e071dc-b0bf-409c-b982-df2970295c87