Virtual Ethnography of Female Migrants: a WhatsApp Group as a Support Tool During Their Migration Process

Abstract This research aimed to describe the use and functionality that migrant women provide to social networks and the role they play in the social integration of migrant women. Using a qualitative methodology design, a virtual ethnography approach, and with the support of ATLAS, this research analyses 863 discursive threads of a WhatsApp group comprised of 123 migrant women belonging to an association related to the social and labour integration of the migrant population. The results indicate that the WhatsApp group is a reliable source of information as well as spaces of solidarity and emotional support among women who experience similar situations during the migration process. The originality of these results is that they provide insight into the uses of social networks by migrant women, on which there is little research, through observations in a WhatsApp group. Organisations working with migrant women should rethink the functionalities of these social networks and the importance of these tools in improving the social and labour integration of migrant women.