Bridging bonds: Latvian migrants’ interpersonal ties on social networking sites

Abstract

Conflicting accounts exist regarding the influence of online-based communication platforms on the development of cross-border migrants’ networks. It has been reported that such platforms can either promote migrants’ participation in the host society or support secluded ethnic networks at the expense of developing ties with the local population. This article examines this issue through the analysis of the accumulation of online-based social capital among first-generation Latvian migrants. The study is based on interviews with 20 Latvians living in other countries who are frequent users of social networking sites and a survey of Latvian migrants (N = 14,068). Migrants use social networking sites to maintain ties with friends and relatives in Latvia and also to broaden their networks and enable access to relevant information and contacts. Rather than interpreting social networking site-mediated communication among migrants as the accumulation of either bridging or bonding social capital, this article highlights the limitations of construing this pair of concepts as a binary opposition. In their online connections, Latvian migrants develop ‘dispersed ties’ – a bonding connection with fellow Latvians as a group and simultaneously bridging connections with individual members of the group, which increase heterogeneity of their networks and serve instrumental functions.