TY  - JOUR
AU  - Xie, Zidian
AU  - Wang, Xueting
AU  - Gu, Yu
AU  - Li, Dongmei
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/7/6
TI  - Exploratory Analysis of Electronic Cigarette–Related Videos on YouTube: Observational Study
JO  - Interact J Med Res
SP  - e27302
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
KW  - infodemiology
KW  - infoveillance
KW  - social listening
KW  - electronic cigarettes
KW  - e-cigarette
KW  - YouTube
KW  - user engagement
KW  - provaping
KW  - vaping-warning
AB  - 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. 
SN  - 1929-073X
UR  - https://www.i-jmr.org/2021/3/e27302
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/27302
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34255663
DO  - 10.2196/27302
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/27302
ER  -