Accepted for/Published in: Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Date Submitted: Jan 20, 2021
Date Accepted: Jun 2, 2021
Exploratory Analysis of Electronic Cigarette Related Videos on YouTube: Observational Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use becomes increasingly popular, especially among the youth. Social media platforms including YouTube are popular for the public to share information about e-cigarette use (vaping).
Objective:
This study aimed to characterize electronic cigarette related videos posted on YouTube regarding their contents and user engagement.
Methods:
Top search 400 videos related to e-cigarettes were collected from YouTube in January 2020. Among them, 340 valid videos were classified into pro-vaping, vaping-warning, and neutral categories by hand-coding. The contents of e-cigarette videos and their user engagement (including average views and likes) were analyzed and compared.
Results:
While pro-vaping videos were dominant among e-cigarette related videos on YouTube from 2007 to 2017, vaping-warning videos started to emerge in 2013 and became dominant in 2018 and 2019. Compared to vaping-warning videos, pro-vaping videos had higher average daily views (1,077 vs. 822) but lower average daily likes (12 vs. 15). Among 161 pro-vaping videos, videos on user demonstration were dominant (100 videos, 62.11%), and videos on comparison with smoking had the highest user engagement (2,522 average daily views and 28 average daily likes). Among 141 vaping-warning videos, videos on potential health risks were the most popular (57 videos, 40.42%) topic with the highest user engagement (1,609 average daily views, and 33 average daily likes).
Conclusions:
YouTube was dominated by pro-vaping videos before 2018 with the majority of videos on user demonstrations. Vaping-warning videos became dominant in 2018 and 2019 with videos on potential health risks being the most popular topic. This study provides updated surveillance on e-cigarette related videos on YouTube, as well as some important guidance about social media regulation.
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Copyright
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