Platforms, people, and homelands: new perspectives on social media and diasporic practice

The term "diaspora" traditionally refers to the scattering of people from their homeland.In the research literature (see, for instance, Cohen 2022), diasporic communities are described as those that have been dispersed from their original homeland, often under traumatic circumstances (see Lu and Jin, Farooq, et al. in this issue), to multiple foreign regions.This dispersal can occur as people seek better opportunities, such as employment or trade, or it might result from colonial endeavors.Diaspora communities maintain a strong cultural connection through a collective memory and shared myths about their homeland, with a tendency to idealize their ancestral home.While diaspora is defined by dispersal, social media is characterized by connectedness.These two contrasting social forcesgeographic dispersion and digital connectivityhave created a unique "third space" (Bhabha 1994) for new social practices to emerge, reshaping the way diaspora communities engage with their heritage and each other.As shown in this special issue, social media, on the one hand, can be used to de/re-construct, preserve, and translate diasporic identities through contesting what Farooq et al. (in this issue) call discursive cleansing, and empowering social changes.On the other hand, they can also bring unique risks and vulnerability upon diasporic populations like refugees (see Lu and Jin in this issue).The last decade has witnessed an explosion of scholarly interest in understanding how social media mediates diasporic experiences, highlighting its role in maintaining social connections, negotiating individual and collective identities, challenging cultural myths, and facilitating political activism (e.g.