@Article{info:doi/10.2196/27302,
author="Xie, Zidian
and Wang, Xueting
and Gu, Yu
and Li, Dongmei",
title="Exploratory Analysis of Electronic Cigarette--Related Videos on YouTube: Observational Study",
journal="Interact J Med Res",
year="2021",
month="Jul",
day="6",
volume="10",
number="3",
pages="e27302",
keywords="infodemiology; infoveillance; social listening; electronic cigarettes; e-cigarette; YouTube; user engagement; provaping; vaping-warning",
abstract="Background: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become more popular than cigarette smoking, especially among youth. Social media platforms, including YouTube, are a popular means of sharing information about e-cigarette use (vaping). Objective: This study aimed to characterize the content and user engagement of e-cigarette--related YouTube videos. Methods: The top 400 YouTube search videos related to e-cigarettes were collected in January 2020. Among them, 340 valid videos were classified into provaping, vaping-warning, and neutral categories by hand coding. Additionally, the content of e-cigarette videos and their user engagement (including average views and likes) were analyzed and compared. Results: While provaping videos were dominant among e-cigarette--related YouTube videos from 2007 to 2017, vaping-warning videos started to emerge in 2013 and became dominant between 2018 and 2019. Compared to vaping-warning videos, provaping videos had higher average daily views (1077 vs 822) but lower average daily likes (12 vs 15). Among 161 provaping videos, videos on user demonstration (n=100, 62.11{\%}) were dominant, and videos on comparison with smoking had the highest user engagement (2522 average daily views and 28 average daily likes). Conversely, among 141 vaping-warning videos, videos on potential health risks were the most popular topic (n=57, 40.42{\%}) with the highest user engagement (1609 average daily views and 33 average daily likes). Conclusions: YouTube was dominated by provaping videos, with the majority of videos on user demonstrations before 2018. The vaping-warning videos became dominant between 2018 and 2019, with videos on potential health risks being the most popular topic. This study provides updated surveillance on e-cigarette--related YouTube videos and some important guidance on associated social media regulations. ",
issn="1929-073X",
doi="10.2196/27302",
url="https://www.i-jmr.org/2021/3/e27302",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/27302",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34255663"
}