New social media enable transnational migration by connecting people from different parts of the world. Social media allow users to interact with extended friendship networks, and can facilitate local and transnational contacts among users openly sharing their names and personal details. Yet new media also creates spaces where users can participate anonymously, forming new contacts outside of one's networks with a “new identity.” One’s online persona might change depending on the context: seeking a job, seeking intimate relationships with members of the same sex, and so forth. This panel investigates migration and integration patterns via the use of websites and mobile applications. How do these sites/apps create an intimate public sphere and where one might bond affectively? How do racial, national and sexual identities develop meaning online? The research projects in this panel utilize “netnographic” observations and semi-structured interviews with users of these technologies to show that new social media plays a crucial role in sculpting migrant networks, identities, and senses of belonging.