“Volunteering is like any other business” : Civic participation and social media

The increased influx of refugees in 2015 has led to challenges in transition and destination countries such as Germany, Sweden and Denmark. Volunteer-led initiatives providing urgent relief played a crucial role in meeting the needs of arriving refugees. The work of the volunteers in central stations and transition shelters was mainly organised with the help of Facebook, both in terms of inward and outward communication. This article examines the role of social media for civic participation drawing on Swedish volunteer initiatives that emerged in the context of the migration crisis in 2015 as a case study. Theoretically the article provides an analytical framework including power relations, technological affordances, practices, and discourses that helps to shed light on the interrelation between social media and civic participation