• Create valuable networks of initiatives and people active on the theme of migration. Use existing networktools such as Linkedin or an intermediary website. Look for possibilities for cooperation, businessmodels, exchanging content, promotion etc.
• Circumvent the regular media by creating news networks based on migrant Diaspora. Connect different ethnic groups to achieve this

• Take a pro-active stance vis a vis politics and the government. Circumvent top down established interest organisations
• Take a a pro-active stance vis a vis the mainstream media institutions. Try to cooperate and be a relevant partner. Look for businesspossibilties in this context
• Approach corporate advertisors for the space on your website
• Use crowdsourcing strategies
• Use recognizable talking heads to get donations for particular initiatives
• Build trust around social media in migrant communities
• Involve the cultural peer group
• …

We invite you to add your recommendations to meet the challenges for social media initiatives related to migration! Please leave your comments.

As Stefano Kluzer rightly commented, we mainly focused on the role of online services, not that much on the role of offline initiatives empowering digital illiterate migrants by teaching them ICT skills. An issue that obviously plays an important role for migrants and integration and is supported by initiatives like Computerwijk.

We see that pioneers have initiated all kinds of interesting social media initiatives related to themes of migration. However, now the pioneering has been done, the question is how to proceed. What are the challenges for these initiatives in the near future?

1. Financial sustainability

One of the main challenges that we also identified in the field of open governance, is the challenge of sustainability. After setting up a website and community successfully, how to stay alive?

Since a lot of initiatives basically do not have a commercial strategy and are often financed by subsidies, long term finances is a problem, especially in the current economical situation. The main challenge here is to find ways to create value and cut costs. This challenge might be met by innovative business-models.

With regard to possible business models, the main capital of these initiatives has shown to be the community they represent and the information they possess. There are opportunities to convert this into financial income and sustainability of the online activities. One might think of companies or institutions that want to reach the specific groups connected to the particular initiative; commercial organizations as well as public institutions or mainstream media.

Organizations like maroc.nl are often approached to provide ‘Moroccan’ talking heads. Maroc.nl worked together with a Dutch public broadcaster who regularly asks a panel of Dutch citizens for their opinions on different news related topics. Because they lack Moroccan panelists they worked together with Maroc.nl. This could become a more professional service in the future. Also other constructions of initiatives converting their network into economic capital were discussed. The Chinese online Radio crtv.nl for example shows how the information they possess is a commodity as well. They resell their programs, which they broadcast in the Netherlands anyway, to radio stations in Sjanghai who are keen in knowing how living in Amsterdam is like.

So, looking for new business models for the near future, the overall question is how to make value from their peer group by commoditize people as well as information.

2. Cooperation

An often-heard point of improvement and challenge is cooperation between likeminded initiatives. Besides the chance to cut costs, working together might empower the movement of migration related social media initiatives enormously.

During our round table session representatives of all initiatives thought that meeting each other and sharing experiences was very valuable and not very common. Finding win-win situations and try to combine forces might lead to more valuable networks, political relevance, connection with business and more organizational efficiency.

When it comes to sharing information as a service, cooperation might lead to even more valuable information. When it comes to news and media an alternative media network of migrant initiatives for example might contest regular mainstream media. Other information may be shared as well, nationally and internationally. The initiative all included for example uses indymedia.org as mediaplatform. Miramedia.nl tries to connect social media initiatives on neighborhood level.

Furthermore, together one can hold a stronger position towards the government and other established institutions as well. Most initiatives feel that they represent a new bottom-up group of people and feel hardly represented in the established order, even when it comes to the existing migrant institutions, in the Netherlands referred to as LOM (Landelijk overleg migranten).

Not only the relationship with the government could benefit from collective efforts. Better contact with business can be interesting as well. Offering particular services together and being more visible for commercial enterprises are related possibilities.

Cooperation and sharing information and knowledge might also result in more efficient organizations. Confronted with similar organizational issues the initiatives might learn from each other and might even come up with new ideas.

3. Staying connected

With these opportunities in mind the second issue with regard to sustainability becomes even more urgent. How to keep people connected? How to serve your peer group? In some situations it proves to be difficult to keep people connected. On the other hand, most of these initiatives have a strong unique selling point. They identify with an existing group. And as long as they can be ‘authentic’ in this identification, they have a loyal audience. Maroc.nl kept in touch with their rank and file by offering a free SMS service during Ramadan.

A pitfall is to have a too strict or conservative idea about your users. If you are focused too much on your standard focus group, you might miss a lot of opportunities. You have to be flexible with regard to the composition of the target group. All in all, whatever the precise composition, keeping strong ties with your audience and community is an important challenge for the future. Understanding the users and engage them are the means to achieve this.

4. Sensitive issues

A specific challenge for this cluster of social media initiatives is the political sensitivity of migration related issues. Heavy issues such as radicalism are discussed online. Several initiatives try to facilitate open constructive discussion. However, some of the initiators feel that there is a general distrust in society with regard to these issues and others misuse their openness, such as mainstream media. The particular role of the communities as mediator between specific sub-groups and wider society confronts the initiators with dilemmas of openness and safety for their users.

Researching the state of migrant media

So, in our analysis of the rise of migrant social media initiatives, financial sustainability, cooperation, staying connected and coping with sensitive issues are the main challenges we see for the field for further development. We are very curious for your opinion on this analysis of challenges for the future.

And building upon these challenges, what are the general recommendations for a vital migration and social media movement the following years?

We had representatives of Turkish, Moroccan, Islam and Chinese platforms, pioneers, researchers and policy makers over to join our discussion and this is the first part of our report on our heated discussion. It reflects on the question how social media initiatives have empowered and facilitated migrant communities. Social media initiatives focusing on issues of migration and integration seem to work on three main goals: 1. Connecting diaspora and specific ethnic groups, 2. Generating dialogue and discussion and 3. Learn, inform and share knowledge. Some initiatives work on one goal specifically, and some on more than one at the same time. The overarching goal is to empower particular migrants or, in some cases, work on diversity in society.

1. Connecting diaspora and ethnic groups

Networking and communicating through the Internet increases the possibilities of migrant-groups enormously. It is hard to realize that up until recently migrants had to pay enormous phone costs to keep in contact with their family and friends. Important documents had to travel for days, or even weeks… However, looking at the initiatives represented at our round table, connecting certain ethnic communities within a particular country seems an important common need in this group as well. Through online platforms people of similar ethnic descent meet each other and share experiences. Altogether, migrants or people with migrant backgrounds can benefit enormously from possibilities social media offer.

A main possibility is to connect through specific ethnic oriented platforms like Maroc.nl (between 12.000 and 15.0000 unique visitors a day) or Turkishplace.nl (70.000 members), Ansaar.nl (Muslims) or Crtv.nl (Chinese) do. They approach their particular target group and create a convenient online atmosphere where relevant issues can be discussed, people can have a chat, information can be shared and others who have an interest in the specific group can approach them. Users find other users with similar questions, needs and interests.

The online initiatives can facilitate this community in different ways. Maroc.nl, for example, created ‘Ask Lina’, a tool that provides young people of Moroccan descent with the possibility to ask sensitive questions. On Turkishplace young people can start an account and communicate with each other in a Facebook kind of way. But the site is also used to connect students with companies that are specifically interested in this group. Ansaar.nl is a save online environment where Muslims can find each other, to talk about Islam, other social issues, or just have a general chat with likeminded people. Crtv.nl is an online space, related to tv and radio, for Chinese people in the Netherlands. They are currently experimenting with a blog where Dutch lifestyle and issues concerning living in the Netherlands are discussed.

Another sympathetic initiative is Hier-sta-ik.nl (here I stand) for young refugees in refugee centers in the Netherlands where they can present themselves and their talents to each other and the rest of the world. For this vulnerable group with a lack of means to communicate with the rest of the world and with a limited amount of freedom, this online medium provides them with the possibility to be connected and overcome their isolation.

Next to these national-oriented initiatives there are efforts to create international networks such as connecting Afghan students from Leiden University with the university in Kabul or to realize information network for refugees from Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Angola.

Altogether, by online networking isolation of people may decrease. Communities are no longer dependent of (powerful) state created or religious institutions to meet each other. Neither are they bounded to specific geographical sites. They are able to meet and organise themselves, locally or globally, through social media.

2. Generating dialogue and discussion

Migration comes with particular social, cultural and political issues. Issues like racism, cultural taboos and conflicts, identity and political representation need space to be discussed. Especially young people have to cope with many questions regarding their migrant background. By finding each other on Internet sensitive issues can be discussed and together they might come to solutions or at least a sense of empowerment. Moreover, there are online initiatives that not necessarily connect people of migrant descent but connect people in general about migration issues.

Maroc.nl initiates discussion on Islam and sexuality. They film live discussions on the topic and spread stories on their forum. Their platform is a perfect tool to break taboos, since their reach is big and the target group trusts the medium probably more than, for example, schools or government campaigns. Similarly, Ansaar.nl tries to fight radicalism within the own community by informing Muslims about Islamic identity and create room for constructive discussion.

Another interesting project was Splitscreen, this online initiative tried to facilitate discussion about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Dutch youngsters. They intended to improve the (online-) discussion by mapping the arguments. As such arguments and lines of thought were visualized and people were confronted with the logic of their reasoning. Although the project eventually did not proceed, it showed nonetheless how highly sensitive issues might be approached with online tools.

Along the line of initiating and facilitating discussion on controversial issues Allincluded.nl puts the problem of illegality on the agenda. They inform the public about issues of illegal migration, and the inhuman consequences. They cooperate with people from African countries such as Mauretania, Senegal and Mali. As forum for communication they use the alternative news forum Indymedia. Since Indymedia is an independent online medium they are able to approach such sensitive and political topics with another perspective than regular media would. The legal status quo is not necessarily the frame of reference. This results in the fact that the discussion is more open and accessible for people who would otherwise not be heard, such as illegal migrants themselves.

The initiatives described above illustrate that online space creates possibilities it comes to discussing all kinds of social issues related to migration. The online space creates a more open and save atmosphere to talk about sensitive issues.

3.  Learning, informing and sharing knowledge

A third goal of social media initiatives related to migration is to school or inform people. Since people of migrant communities have specific need when it comes to information and knowledge. The Dutch-Chinese website mentioned above, crtv.nl, explicitly informs Dutch-Chinese citizens of Amsterdam as well as Chinese visitors or students in Holland about all kind of issues concerning living in the Netherlands, even legal issues. CRTV broadcasts language lessons and translates Amsterdam news in Chinese and the other way around.

However, next to just inform people, innovative online tools are actively used as learning environments for processes of integration and language training. An excellent example is the Alane newsreader that shows how social and technological innovation can be combined. Alane is a tool that uses up to date news articles and transforms them in a customized language assignment. Customized in the sense that the program is responsive to the level of the student. Alane is available in public libraries across Amsterdam. An initiative along the same line has been the virtual integration game, used by municipalities, that informs migrants about participating in the Netherlands.

In addition, the initiative De Computerwijk has a particular methodology to train people from migrant communities with the specific goal to decrease the amount of 1.6 million digital illiterates in the Netherlands. An important element of the approach is that they visit people in their own environment such as community centres, Mosques etc. This approach has proved to be very successful and is spreading across the Netherlands.

Coping with health issues such as HIV/AIDS is extra difficult for people who have language difficulties, are restricted by cultural taboos or do not know their way to health institutions. The Lifeboat project produced a series of documentaries about people coping with the disease, which might inform and inspire people in the same situation. Currently they work on an online library to make the films available for anyone interested.

All in all, online initiatives for learning, informing and sharing knowledge prove to be an interesting option for specifically issues regarding migration. Information is free available at any time and place, and it is easy to get informed anonymously. Moreover, migrants can benefit from the added value of online didactic learning tools when it comes to language or integration training.

Researching the state of migrant media

We would like to hear your opinion on how social media initiatives have empowered and facilitated migrant communities the past few years. In our next blog we will focus on the question what challenges we see for the future of social media and migrant communities. Please comment and we will set the agenda together!

You can find more pictures on the round table here.

Short findings

We will work out all the notes and get back to everyone on this website with our findings. Here are some first pointers:

- In general: exchanging information between migrant organisations can be much more in the Netherlands
- For most migrant organisations financial durablity is a challenge. There is a lot to learn from each other. For instance, Chinese Radio Amsterdam is doing a great job
- For most organisations connecting, and staying connected to audience is an issue

• In what ways does access to new media create opportunities for migrants and marginalized groups in employment, education or a stronger position in civil society?
• What needs exist among existing projects in the field? What solutions can be proposed?
• What recommendations would you make to the outside world and politics?

In search for binding factors

We hope on a heated discussion and are curious on which topics will bind all stakeholders in this particular field. If you can speak of a certain defined field ofcourse. We will find out. The findings from the round table will be posted on this blog to be further discussed. The discussion will be processed in a publication and presented after State of Social Media Summit in October 2010.

Our partners

Bridge IT: Bridge IT is a thematic network, co-financed by the European Commission. The network focuses on information and communication technologies for migrants, ethnic minorities in Europe.

Maroc NL: Maroc NL is the largest forum and chat community in the Netherlands and Belgium and is part of the Bridge IT network.