User Perceptions of Different Electronic Cigarette Flavors on Social Media: Observational Study.
J Med Internet Res
; 22(6): e17280, 2020 06 24.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32579123
ABSTRACT
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.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Mídias Sociais
/
Aromatizantes
/
Sistemas Eletrônicos de Liberação de Nicotina
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Med Internet Res
Assunto da revista:
INFORMATICA MEDICA
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos