Page 28 - IJPS-11-6

International Journal of
Population Studies Migration data management insights

geography and enhance security measures like preventing application programming interface alongside the Python
unauthorized access. However, such practices must comply module Social Watcher, Alexander et al. (2022) extracted
with data protection laws, ensuring privacy, transparency, potential reach estimates to model migration trends from
and user consent. In addition to capturing out-migration Mexico, India, and Germany groups with varying United
and monthly relocations of migrants, Facebook advertising States migration patterns. Their validation against 2017
data can also be used to recruit migrant respondents American Community Survey data showed the model
worldwide on a modest budget and on time. Experts improved short-term trend predictions compared to
agree that Facebook advertising data provides insight alternatives. However, the bias-adjustment approach has
into migrant integration by identifying their cultural limitations, including assumptions that systematic biases
integration (Alencar, 2018; Spencer & Charsley, 2016). and non-sampling errors in Facebook data remain constant
Leveraging Facebook advertising data presents a viable over time, highlighting the need for further research into
and efficient approach for recruiting migrant respondents these dynamics.
worldwide (Zagheni et al., 2017). By harnessing its global In a recent study, Gonzalez-Salinas et al. (2024)
reach, targeted capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and real- combined Facebook’s digital application programming
time monitoring features, researchers can successfully
engage with diverse migrant populations while adhering interface data with Eurostat statistics to analyze Ukrainian
to ethical principles and data privacy standards. settlement patterns in Europe, revealing distinct
geographical trends. Ukrainian-speaking Facebook users
Numerous researchers have taken advantage of the are heavily concentrated in urban areas of inner, southern,
publicly available data provided by Facebook through and northwestern Poland and the Czech Republic, while
its marketing application programming interface. rural Romania hosts significant clusters. In contrast,
Accordingly, Hughes et al. (2016) used self-reported countries like Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom
information about users’ hometowns and current locations show a more dispersed distribution of Ukrainian-speaking
to study “coordinated migration,” or important patterns of populations across their territories.
migration among countries or cities. It has also been used
to measure stocks of migrants (Zagheni et al., 2017) and 4.4. Mobile phone data
to visualize geodemographic information (Araujo et al., Mobile phone data has also revolutionized our ability to
2017). In a recent study, using datasets collected from track regular patterns of displacement within countries
Facebook users and a sample bias correction method, 119 (Bayir et al., 2009; Cumbane & Gidófalvi, 2021; Luca,
countries were estimated to have migrants, disaggregated 2021), and mobile network data that has been passively
by age, gender, and previous country of residence (Spyratos collected, anonymized, or pseudonymized has been used
et al., 2019). to study migration in recent years (Bruckschen et al., 2019;
Recent research has delved into the implications of Salah et al., 2019).
the COVID-19 pandemic on temporary populations in In the WorldPop project, mobile telephone data is
urban areas. Specifically, one study conducted by Brollo integrated with census, survey, and other sources of data
& Celata in 2023 utilized data from Facebook to examine to estimate the density of populations worldwide with a
how the pandemic influenced the temporary population spatial resolution of 100 m × 100 m cells (Tatem, 2017).
dynamics within Rome. This analysis provided insights Turper Alışık et al. (2019) analyzed mobile phone data to
into how mobility patterns shifted during the health crisis, identify mobility patterns among Syrian refugees living in
particularly in a city known for its significant tourist and Turkey that might be associated with seasonal employment
transient populations. in fields like seasonal agriculture and seasonal tourism.

Ting-Toomey et al. (2000) argue that in the case According to the authors, labor plays an important role in
of Mexican, Anglo, and African American cultures in determining Syrians’ mobility. Chi et al. (2020) presented
the United States, it is possible to investigate cultural a general framework for detecting migration events. Using
integration through self-reported musical interest. On the Twitter data from the United States and mobile phone
other hand, we should take into account the possibility of data from Rwanda, the authors empirically validated their
facing challenges arising from duplicate accounts and fake approach.
profiles of migrants on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. More recently, as part of their research, Olivieri et al.

Facebook’s advertising platform provides frequently (2021) analyzed mobile phone data in conjunction with
updated demographic data, though its user base is not household survey data to determine whether Venezuelan
fully representative of the general population (Alexander migrants in Ecuador have an impact on the employment
et al., 2022). Using Facebook’s Ads Manager and marketing market. The authors concluded that regions, where

Volume 11 Issue 6 (2025) 22 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.6846