Online smoker communities: A content analysis of tobacco brand website message boards

Background: Tobacco companies have formed websites for many of their brands. The websites for RJReynolds' Camel, Camel Snus, Doral, and Salem brands include message or discussion boards that allow smokers of these brands to communicate and form relationships with each other. For tobacco companies, these online communities can work to enhance brand loyalty and ultimately lead to increased company sales. Thus far however, no research has been done on the content of these message boards. Methods: This presentation will present the results of a preliminary content analysis of these boards to include an overview of the style, themes and type of content found on these boards, as well as the similarities and differences found across brands. In addition, we will discuss how these boards may serve as a source of information for tobacco control researchers about smokers' brand perceptions and experiences. Results: Smokers were found to discuss a range of topics including brand-specific issues (such as their use and opinions of certain brand loyalty programs, website features, promotions, games and products), more general tobacco-related issues (such as the price of tobacco and taxes) and non-tobacco related topics (such as recipes). Users also openly make negative statements about the brand, discuss their opinions and use of other brands, and even make references to health issues. Conclusions: Message board research has already been conducted to analyze the content of health-related sites. As these particular boards provide unique insight into the perceptions of brand-involved smokers, researchers should begin to study them as well.