Promotion of Disposable Electronic Cigarette Flavors and Topics on Twitter.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Sun L
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7764575 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Promotion of Disposable Electronic Cigarette Flavors and Topics on Twitter.
Sun Li L Tao Chunliang C Xie Zidian Z Li Dongmei D
International journal of environmental research and public health 20201210 24
Disposable electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) became popular among youth after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented an enforcement policy to restrict the sale of cartridge-based flavored e-cigarettes starting from February 2020 in the United States (US). We aimed to examine the flavors and topics related to disposable e-cigarettes on Twitter. The Twitter dataset, which includes 1489 tweets, was collected by the Tweepy streamapplication programming interface (API) using a keyword ...[more]
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Project description:BackgroundFlavored electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have become very popular in recent years. e-Cigarette users like to share their e-cigarette products and e-cigarette use (vaping) experiences on social media. e-Cigarette marketing and promotions are also prevalent online.ObjectiveThis study aims to develop a method to identify new e-cigarette brands and flavors mentioned on Twitter and to monitor e-cigarette brands and flavors mentioned on Twitter from May 2021 to December 2021.MethodsWe collected 1.9 million tweets related to e-cigarettes between May 3, 2021, and December 31, 2021, by using the Twitter streaming application programming interface. Commercial and noncommercial tweets were characterized based on promotion-related keywords. We developed a depletion method to identify new e-cigarette brands by removing the keywords that already existed in the reference data set (Twitter data related to e-cigarettes from May 3, 2021, to August 31, 2021) or our previously identified brand list from the keywords in the target data set (e-cigarette-related Twitter data from September 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021), followed by a manual Google search to identify new e-cigarette brands. To identify new e-cigarette flavors, we constructed a flavor keyword list based on our previously collected e-cigarette flavor names, which were used to identify potential tweet segments that contain at least one of the e-cigarette flavor keywords. Tweets or tweet segments with flavor keywords but not any known flavor names were marked as potential new flavor candidates, which were further verified by a web-based search. The longitudinal trends in the number of tweets mentioning e-cigarette brands and flavors were examined in both commercial and noncommercial tweets.ResultsThrough our developed methods, we identified 34 new e-cigarette brands and 97 new e-cigarette flavors from commercial tweets as well as 56 new e-cigarette brands and 164 new e-cigarette flavors from noncommercial tweets. The longitudinal trend of the e-cigarette brands showed that JUUL was the most popular e-cigarette brand mentioned on Twitter; however, there was a decreasing trend in the mention of JUUL over time on Twitter. Menthol flavor was the most popular e-cigarette flavor mentioned in the commercial tweets, whereas mango flavor was the most popular e-cigarette flavor mentioned in the noncommercial tweets during our study period.ConclusionsOur proposed methods can successfully identify new e-cigarette brands and flavors mentioned on Twitter. Twitter data can be used for monitoring the dynamic changes in the popularity of e-cigarette brands and flavors.
| S-EPMC9764155 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:The number of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users has been increasing rapidly in recent years, especially among youth and young adults. More e-cigarette products have become available, including e-liquids with various brands and flavors. Various e-liquid flavors have been frequently discussed by e-cigarette users on social media. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to examine the longitudinal prevalence of mentions of electronic cigarette liquid (e-liquid) flavors and user perceptions on social media. METHODS:We applied a data-driven approach to analyze the trends and macro-level user sentiments of different e-cigarette flavors on social media. With data collected from web-based stores, e-liquid flavors were classified into categories in a flavor hierarchy based on their ingredients. The e-cigarette-related posts were collected from social media platforms, including Reddit and Twitter, using e-cigarette-related keywords. The temporal trend of mentions of e-liquid flavor categories was compiled using Reddit data from January 2013 to April 2019. Twitter data were analyzed using a sentiment analysis from May to August 2019 to explore the opinions of e-cigarette users toward each flavor category. RESULTS:More than 1000 e-liquid flavors were classified into 7 major flavor categories. The fruit and sweets categories were the 2 most frequently discussed e-liquid flavors on Reddit, contributing to approximately 58% and 15%, respectively, of all flavor-related posts. We showed that mentions of the fruit flavor category had a steady overall upward trend compared with other flavor categories that did not show much change over time. Results from the sentiment analysis demonstrated that most e-liquid flavor categories had significant positive sentiments, except for the beverage and tobacco categories. CONCLUSIONS:The most updated information about the popular e-liquid flavors mentioned on social media was investigated, which showed that the prevalence of mentions of e-liquid flavors and user perceptions on social media were different. Fruit was the most frequently discussed flavor category on social media. Our study provides valuable information for future regulation of flavored e-cigarettes.
| S-EPMC7380993 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) containing nicotine is prohibited in all Australian states and territories; yet, the growing availability and convenience of the internet enable the promotion and exposure of e-cigarettes across countries. Social media's increasing pervasiveness has provided a powerful avenue to market products and influence social norms and risk behaviors. At present, there is no evidence of how e-cigarettes and vaping are promoted on social media in Australia.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate how e-cigarettes are portrayed and promoted on Twitter through a content analysis of vaping-related tweets containing an image posted and retweeted by Australian users and how the portrayal and promotion have emerged and trended over time.MethodsIn total, we analyzed 1303 tweets and accompanying images from 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 collected through the Tracking Infrastructure for Social Media Analysis (TrISMA), a contemporary technical and organizational infrastructure for the tracking of public communication by Australian users of social media, via a list of 15 popular e-cigarette-related terms.ResultsDespite Australia's cautious approach toward e-cigarettes and the limited evidence supporting them as an efficacious smoking cessation aid, it is evident that there is a concerted effort by some Twitter users to promote these devices as a health-conducive (91/129, 70.5%), smoking cessation product (266/1303, 20.41%). Further, Twitter is being used in an attempt to circumvent Australian regulation and advocate for a more liberal approach to personal vaporizers (90/1303, 6.90%). A sizeable proportion of posts was dedicated to selling or promoting vape products (347/1303, 26.63%), and 19.95% (260/1303) were found to be business listings. These posts used methods to try and expand their clientele further than immediate followers by touting competitions and giveaways, with those wanting to enter having to perform a sequence of steps such as liking, tagging, and reposting, ultimately exposing the post among the user's network and to others not necessarily interested in vaping.ConclusionsThe borderless nature of social media presents a clear challenge for enforcing Article 13 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires all ratifying nations to implement a ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship. Countering the advertising and promotion of these products is a public health challenge that will require cross-border cooperation with other World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control parties. Further research aimed at developing strategies to counter the advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes is therefore needed.
| S-EPMC7677022 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTwitter has become the "wild-west" of marketing and promotional strategies for advertisement agencies. Electronic cigarettes have been heavily marketed across Twitter feeds, offering discounts, "kid-friendly" flavors, algorithmically generated false testimonials, and free samples.MethodsAll electronic cigarette keyword related tweets from a 10% sample of Twitter spanning January 2012 through December 2014 (approximately 850,000 total tweets) were identified and categorized as Automated or Organic by combining a keyword classification and a machine trained Human Detection algorithm. A sentiment analysis using Hedonometrics was performed on Organic tweets to quantify the change in consumer sentiments over time. Commercialized tweets were topically categorized with key phrasal pattern matching.ResultsThe overwhelming majority (80%) of tweets were classified as automated or promotional in nature. The majority of these tweets were coded as commercialized (83.65% in 2013), up to 33% of which offered discounts or free samples and appeared on over a billion twitter feeds as impressions. The positivity of Organic (human) classified tweets has decreased over time (5.84 in 2013 to 5.77 in 2014) due to a relative increase in the negative words 'ban', 'tobacco', 'doesn't', 'drug', 'against', 'poison', 'tax' and a relative decrease in the positive words like 'haha', 'good', 'cool'. Automated tweets are more positive than organic (6.17 versus 5.84) due to a relative increase in the marketing words like 'best', 'win', 'buy', 'sale', 'health', 'discount' and a relative decrease in negative words like 'bad', 'hate', 'stupid', 'don't'.ConclusionsDue to the youth presence on Twitter and the clinical uncertainty of the long term health complications of electronic cigarette consumption, the protection of public health warrants scrutiny and potential regulation of social media marketing.
| S-EPMC4943591 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundA rapidly evolving tobacco marketplace highlights the timeliness of the FDA's authority to regulate tobacco, specifically the role that flavorings in nicotine-containing electronic cigarette (ECIG) liquids have on public health. This study aimed to evaluate the extent to which ECIG liquid flavor and nicotine concentration influenced subjective measures of abuse liability among young adult cigarette (cig) smokers.MethodsYoung adult (18-21 y.o.) smokers (M = 10.1 cig/day, no regular ECIG use history) completed 7 Latin-square ordered conditions each preceded by 12 h. nicotine/tobacco abstinence. Conditions were own brand cig (OB) and eGo-style ECIG paired with three liquid flavors (cream, tropical fruit, tobacco/menthol) varying in nicotine concentration (0 or 36 mg/ml). Products were administered in two 10-puff bouts in each condition. Heart rate/blood pressure (HR/BP) and tobacco/nicotine abstinence symptoms, nicotine/general drug effects, and acceptability measures were assessed repeatedly throughout sessions. Mixed linear models were followed-up with Tukey's HSD t-tests.ResultsHR/BP indicated nicotine exposure during nicotine-containing conditions. OB and tobacco/menthol 36 mg/ml conditions produced significant decreases in ratings of cig smoking urges. Nicotine/drug effects were elevated significantly for OB and 36 mg/ml ECIG conditions with one exception noted for the tobacco/menthol 0 mg/ml condition. OB had the highest acceptability ratings, and ECIG condition results varied by acceptability item.ConclusionsAmong young adult smokers, ECIG conditions containing nicotine were positively associated with several subjective measures of abuse liability but not all. Flavors did not consistently mask/enhance effects observed. Results reinforce continued examination of ECIG-delivered nicotine and liquid flavors in relationship to abuse liability.
| S-EPMC9307062 | biostudies-literature
Project description:OBJECTIVE:This study explores the presence and actions of an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) brand, Blu, on Twitter to observe how marketing messages are sent and diffused through the retweet (i.e., message forwarding) functionality. Retweet networks enable messages to reach additional Twitter users beyond the sender's local network. We follow messages from their origin through multiple retweets to identify which messages have more reach, and the different users who are exposed. METHODS:We collected three months of publicly available data from Twitter. A combination of techniques in social network analysis and content analysis were applied to determine the various networks of users who are exposed to e-cigarette messages and how the retweet network can affect which messages spread. RESULTS:The Blu retweet network expanded during the study period. Analysis of user profiles combined with network cluster analysis showed that messages of certain topics were only circulated within a community of e-cigarette supporters, while other topics spread further, reaching more general Twitter users who may not support or use e-cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS:Retweet networks can serve as proxy filters for marketing messages, as Twitter users decide which messages they will continue to diffuse among their followers. As certain e-cigarette messages extend beyond their point of origin, the audience being exposed expands beyond the e-cigarette community. Potential implications for health education campaigns include utilizing Twitter and targeting important gatekeepers or hubs that would maximize message diffusion.
| S-EPMC4694088 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundOn January 2, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) flavor enforcement policy to prohibit the sale of all flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes, except for menthol and tobacco flavors.ObjectiveThis research aimed to examine the public perception of this FDA flavor enforcement policy and its impact on the public perception of e-cigarettes on Twitter.MethodsA total of 2,341,660 e-cigarette-related tweets and 190,490 FDA flavor enforcement policy-related tweets in the United States were collected from Twitter before (between June 13 and August 22, 2019) and after (between January 2 and March 30, 2020) the announcement of the FDA flavor enforcement policy. Sentiment analysis was conducted to detect the changes in the public perceptions of the policy and e-cigarettes on Twitter. Topic modeling was used for finding frequently discussed topics about e-cigarettes.ResultsThe proportion of negative sentiment tweets about e-cigarettes significantly increased after the announcement of the FDA flavor enforcement policy compared with before the announcement of the policy. In contrast, the overall sentiment toward the FDA flavor enforcement policy became less negative. The FDA flavor enforcement policy was the most popular topic associated with e-cigarettes after the announcement of the FDA flavor enforcement policy. Twitter users who discussed about e-cigarettes started to talk about other alternative ways of getting e-cigarettes after the FDA flavor enforcement policy.ConclusionsTwitter users' perceptions of e-cigarettes became more negative after the announcement of the FDA flavor enforcement policy.
| S-EPMC9006136 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionMany e-cigarette users find the variety of e-cigarette flavors appealing. We examined whether preferences for e-liquid flavors and the total number of flavors preferred differed between samples of adolescent and adult e-cigarette users. We also examined whether these preferences were associated with e-cigarette use frequency for adolescents or adults, respectively.Materials and methodsThe analytic samples comprised 1) 396 adolescent, past-month e-cigarette users from 5 Connecticut high schools who completed an anonymous, school-based survey in Fall 2014 (56.1% male; 16.18 [1.18] years; 42.2% past-month smokers), and 2) 590 adult, past-month e-cigarette users who completed an anonymous, MTurk survey in Fall 2014 (53.7% male; 34.25 [9.89] years; 51.2% past-month smokers).ResultsCompared to adults, a larger proportion of adolescents preferred fruit, alcohol, and "other"-flavored e-liquids, whereas adults disproportionately preferred tobacco, menthol, mint, coffee, and spice-flavored e-liquids (p-values < .05). Adults also preferred a greater total number of flavors compared to adolescents and used e-cigarettes more frequently (p-values < .001). Flavor preferences uniquely were associated with frequency of e-cigarette use within the adolescent sample; the total number of flavors preferred was associated with more days of e-cigarette use (ηp2 = 0.04), as were preferences for fruit (ηp2 = 0.02), dessert (ηp2 = 0.02), and alcohol-flavored (ηp2 = 0.02) e-liquids.ConclusionsFlavor preferences differed between adolescent and adult samples. While youth reported less frequent e-cigarette use overall, their preferences for specific flavors and the total number of flavors preferred were associated with more days of e-cigarette use, indicating that flavor preferences may play an important role in adolescent e-cigarette use.
| S-EPMC5754053 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionE-liquid flavor is typically presented by flavor category (e.g. menthol, mint, fruit, dessert). Cooling sensations produced by flavor additives such as menthol enhance appeal of e-cigarettes among youth, but not all e-liquids that produce cooling sensations are labeled as menthol. Sensory experiences produced by flavors may allow for a new way to capture e-cigarette flavor use. This study aims to examine use of flavors that produce cooling sensations among youth and its association with e-cigarette use behaviors.MethodsA 2019 survey of high school students (n = 4875) examined use of e-cigarette flavors that produced cooling sensations (cooling flavors) among past 30-day e-cigarette users. E-cigarette use behaviors (flavor use, nicotine use, frequency of use) were examined between those who did and did not use cooling flavors. A binary logistic regression was used to examine associations between vaping frequency, nicotine (vs. non-nicotine) use, and vaping cooling flavors while controlling for demographics, number of flavors vaped in the past month, and vaping age of onset.Results51.6% (n = 473/916) of the analytic sample endorsed vaping cooling flavors. There were no demographic differences by vaping cooling flavors. Vaping cooling flavors was associated with vaping more frequently (AOR:1.04,95% CI:1.03,1.05) and vaping nicotine (AOR:2.37,95% CI:1.53,3.67).ConclusionVaping cooling flavors was associated with greater nicotine vaping and frequency of e-cigarette use. Assessing sensory experience, such as cooling, in addition to flavor category may more fully capture e-cigarette flavor use and its impacts on youth e-cigarette use behaviors.
| S-EPMC8409641 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBlack women in the United States disproportionately suffer adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes compared to White women. Economic adversity and implicit bias during clinical encounters may lead to physiological responses that place Black women at higher risk for adverse birth outcomes. The novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) further exacerbated this risk, as safety protocols increased social isolation in clinical settings, thereby limiting opportunities to advocate for unbiased care. Twitter, 1 of the most popular social networking sites, has been used to study a variety of issues of public interest, including health care. This study considers whether posts on Twitter accurately reflect public discourse during the COVID-19 pandemic and are being used in infodemiology studies by public health experts.ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the feasibility of Twitter for identifying public discourse related to social determinants of health and advocacy that influence maternal health among Black women across the United States and to examine trends in sentiment between 2019 and 2020 in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsTweets were collected from March 1 to July 13, 2020, from 21 organizations and influencers and from 4 hashtags that focused on Black maternal health. Additionally, tweets from the same organizations and hashtags were collected from the year prior, from March 1 to July 13, 2019. Twint, a Python programming library, was used for data collection and analysis. We gathered the text of approximately 17,000 tweets, as well as all publicly available metadata. Topic modeling and k-means clustering were used to analyze the tweets.ResultsA variety of trends were observed when comparing the 2020 data set to the 2019 data set from the same period. The percentages listed for each topic are probabilities of that topic occurring in our corpus. In our topic models, tweets on reproductive justice, maternal mortality crises, and patient care increased by 67.46% in 2020 versus 2019. Topics on community, advocacy, and health equity increased by over 30% in 2020 versus 2019. In contrast, tweet topics that decreased in 2020 versus 2019 were as follows: tweets on Medicaid and medical coverage decreased by 27.73%, and discussions about creating space for Black women decreased by just under 30%.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic may have spurred an increased focus on advocating for improved reproductive health and maternal health outcomes among Black women in the United States. Further analyses are needed to capture a longer time frame that encompasses more of the pandemic, as well as more diverse voices to confirm the robustness of the findings. We also concluded that Twitter is an effective source for providing a snapshot of relevant topics to guide Black maternal health advocacy efforts.
| S-EPMC9092478 | biostudies-literature