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Social media are increasingly popular channels of information on which migrants base their decisions on whether to migrate and the destinations where to settle. While social media offer a relatively cheap, easily accessible, and media-rich means of communication, their use is not without challenges for asylum migrants. Various studies describe issues with access and evaluation of the truthfulness of available information for this specific group of migrants. This article discusses social media use by asylum migrants prior to and during migration. This study is based on in-depth interviews with 54 Syrian asylum migrants who recently obtained refugee status in the Netherlands. Syrians were the largest group of migrants applying for asylum in European Union (EU) member states in 2015 and 2016. The findings show that the majority of Syrian asylum migrants have access to social media information before and during migration, often through the use of smartphones. Besides uneven access to technologies, fear of government surveillance restricts the smartphone use of asylum migrants. The results of this study indicate that Syrian asylum migrants prefer social media information that originates from existing social ties and information that is based on personal experiences. Generally, this information is considered more trustworthy. Asylum migrants use various strategies to validate rumors that are present on social media and come from unknown sources. These strategies include checking the source of information, validating information with trusted social ties, triangulation of online sources, and comparing information with their own experience.

The use of online media for transnational communication in migration networks may serve as a new source of social ties and information for prospective migrants. There is scholarly debate about the role of online media communication in supporting migration aspirations and decision‐making. This paper aims to offer some context to this debate by studying to what extent online media are used for transnational communication in migrant networks and how personal characteristics, availability of social network ties, and migration propensity are influencing the likelihood of non‐migrants' use of online media. We draw on data of migrants in four Western European destination countries (the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the UK) and non‐migrants in three origin countries (Brazil, Morocco, and Ukraine). Our results show that online media have indeed become fairly important channels of communication in migration networks. Online media use by non‐migrants is explained by age, level of education, and country of origin. Furthermore, the availability of migration network ties is relevant: Having more social ties leads to a higher likelihood of online media use. Online communication mostly takes place between existing social ties but may also concern establishing new ‘latent’ ties. Finally, we found that the use of online media to communicate with migrants in Western Europe is explained by the non‐migrants' migration propensity, indicating that online communication in migration networks is supporting migration aspirations and decision‐making. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study examines three theses on local integration policies by a qualitative comparative case study of integration policies in three cities in three different countries (Berlin, Malmö, and Rotterdam). We found little evidence of a congruent local dimension of integration policies. Local policies resemble their national policy frameworks fairly well in terms of policy approaches and domains. Our multi‐level perspective shows that this is not the result of top‐down hierarchical governance, but rather of a multilevel dynamic of two‐way interaction. Local policy legacies and local politics matter and national policies are also influenced by local approaches of integration.

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