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ABSTRACT The paper develops our understanding of how the Internet is integrated into migration processes and influences plans and decisions to move, drawing on in‐depth interviews with urban young adults planning to move. Our analysis is based on people's own experiences and perceptions, focusing on the pre‐migrant phase of interregional migration. Theoretically, the decision to move is an ongoing process and practice in which Internet use is increasingly prominent. Internet‐based information is assumed to increasingly be supporting and transforming individual migration plans. Results indicate that Internet use is integrated into most respondents' migration practices and is perceived as a necessity when accessing information about jobs, education, housing, and destinations. Its role varies between migration process phases, that is inspiration, screening and sorting, practical and emotional preparation, and post‐processing after settlement. In the inspiration phase, Internet‐based information builds migrant awareness of new opportunities in unfamiliar places, permitting larger and more distant geographical areas to be considered. The Internet is not perceived as a driving force per se, but instead a supportive agent. Internet use is believed to encourage individual interest in migration, transforming the overall meaning of migration and reducing the perceived friction of distance. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Thulin et al. (Mon,) studied this question.