Online Program

282094
Electronic cigarettes related videos on youtube


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Rachel Kornfield, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Jidong Huang, PhD, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Glen Szczypka, MA, Health Media Collaboratory, Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, Chicago, IL
Sherry Emery, PhD, MBA, Institute for Health Research and Policy - Health Media Collaboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Background: A few studies have examined a small subset of e-cigarette videos on Youtube in the context of tobacco control, however, little is known about the extent of presence of e-cigarette videos on Youtube.

Methods: An automated crawling procedure was employed to collect the metadata associated with e-cigarette videos posted on Youtube between January 1 2007 and December 31 2012 using keyword rules. View counts, ratings, number of comments, and number of e-cigarette vides over time are examined.

Results: Approximately12,000 videos related to e-cigarettes were captured in the study period. Those videos were posted by about 3,700 Youtube users or accounts. They were viewed more than 66 million times, favored more than 72,000 times, and commented more than 174,000 times as of December 2012. The average view counts for these videos are 5,500 views per video, with the average rating of 2.9 on a 0-5 scale. The number of e-cigarette videos posted on Youtube per month has increased steadily since 2007, with about 300-400 videos posted on Youtube per month. However, in the March – April 2012 two-month period, more than 3,000 e-cigarette related videos were posted on Youtube, corresponding to the CDC's Tips from Former Smokers campaign. The vast majority of these videos were tagged to the “Technology,” “How To,” “People,” “Education,” and “Entertainment” categories.

Conclusions: Youtube is a major messaging and information-sharing social platform for electronic cigarettes. The presence and broad reach of e-cigarette videos on Youtube warrants serious attention from public health professionals and policy-makers.

Learning Areas:

Communication and informatics
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Assess the extent of presence of electronic cigarettes related videos on Youtube; Discuss the policy and public health implications of the proliferation of e-cigarette videos on Youtube.

Keyword(s): Tobacco Control, Media

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been conducting research on the relationship between new and emerging tobacco products and social media platforms in the past two years, working closely with Dr. Sherry Emery, principal investigator of multiple federally funded grants focusing on media influences on tobacco use.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.