Internal migration and mobile communication patterns among pairs with strong ties

Mikaela Irene D Fudolig,Kimmo Kaski,Hang-Hyun Jo,Kunal Bhattacharya,Daniel Monsivais

doi:10.1140/epjds/s13688-021-00272-z

Abstract

Using large-scale call detail records of anonymised mobile phone service subscribers with demographic and location information, we investigate how a long-distance residential move within the country affects the mobile communication patterns between an ego who moved and a frequently called alter who did not move. By using clustering methods in analysing the call frequency time series, we find that such ego-alter pairs are grouped into two clusters, those with the call frequency increasing and those with the call frequency decreasing after the move of the ego. This indicates that such residential moves are correlated with a change in the communication pattern soon after moving. We find that the pre-move calling behaviour is a relevant predictor for the post-move calling behaviour. While demographic and location information can help in predicting whether the call frequency will rise or decay, they are not relevant in predicting the actual call frequency volume. We also note that at four months after the move, most of these close pairs maintain contact, even if the call frequency is decreased.

Highlights

In recent years, the availability of large-scale mobile phone call detail records (CDRs) with location information has allowed researchers to study human mobility and communication with fine spatiotemporal resolution, large sample sizes, and high accuracy [1, 2]
The effects of moving to another location for longer term have not been studied as much, perhaps due to the lack of mobile phone datasets that allow the tracking of individuals’ locations over long periods of time. These residential moves, referred to as migration or residential mobility in sociological literature [9, 10], have conventionally been studied using surveys and censuses. In contrast to these traditional approaches, mobile phone CDRs do not suffer from recall bias, show more subtle migration patterns [11], and give migration estimates as accurate as those obtained from census data [12]
4 Discussion and concluding remarks In contrast to surveys most commonly used in migration studies, mobile phone CDRs give us a very detailed quantitative view on how the mobile communication patterns of movers change, while being unaffected by the recall bias and characterised by high spatiotemporal resolution

Summary

Introduction

The availability of large-scale mobile phone call detail records (CDRs) with location information has allowed researchers to study human mobility and communication with fine spatiotemporal resolution, large sample sizes, and high accuracy [1, 2]. The effects of moving to another location for longer term have not been studied as much, perhaps due to the lack of mobile phone datasets that allow the tracking of individuals’ locations over long periods of time These residential moves, referred to as migration or residential mobility in sociological literature [9, 10], have conventionally been studied using surveys and censuses. The migration flows are usually focused on individuals, migration carries a relational aspect [13], and has been associated with changes in the individual’s social network [14,15,16] These changes have traditionally been studied using surveys [9, 17], but the availability of the mobile phone CDRs have broadened the research scope to such issues as the persistence of ties in a mover’s social network [18, 19]. It has been shown that on the basis of communication volumes between ego-alter pairs, stronger ego-alter ties are more likely to persist after migration [20]

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Conclusion