Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Transient migration has become increasingly commonplace, especially with higher education that sees large numbers of students travelling overseas to study each year. During this period, the students’ time and space is split between home countries and countries of study, and their use of internet and communication technologies (ICTs) enables co-presence across distance. Theoretically, social media sites serve as an ideal medium for these students to maintain past relationships and form new ones. However, in all actuality, the links between social media and integration are not so simple, especially considering how often international students struggle with integrating into their host societies. This research study examines the relationship between social media use and the integration and social inclusion of international students in Finland. Focusing on Bhabha’s work on hybridity (1994), this paper positions Facebook to represent a Third Space where multiple cultures intersect. It then draws on Berry’s (1997) theory of acculturation and its critiques, as well as Gomes’ work on “home-based” and “identity-based” networks (2014; 2015) to study how Facebook plays both social and functional roles in the acculturation of international students, as they transition from home to host culture. Through a visual internet ethnographic study of Facebook profiles and interviews with international students, this study investigates how these transitions are mediated through the social networking site of Facebook and located within the digital identities constructed on the students’ individual profile pages.