Characterizing Electronic Cigarette-Related Videos on TikTok: Observational Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND

As a popular social networking platform for sharing short videos, TikTok has been widely used for sharing e-cigarettes or vaping-related videos, especially among the youth.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to characterize e-cigarette or vaping-related videos and their user engagement on TikTok through descriptive analysis.

METHODS

From TikTok, a total of 417 short videos, posted between October 4, 2018, and February 27, 2021, were collected using e-cigarette or vaping-related hashtags. Two human coders independently hand-coded the video category and the attitude toward vaping (provaping or antivaping) for each vaping-related video. The social media user engagement measures (eg, the comment count, like count, and share count) for each video category were compared within provaping and antivaping groups. The user accounts posting these videos were also characterized.

RESULTS

Among 417 vaping-related TikTok videos, 387 (92.8%) were provaping, and 30 (7.2%) were antivaping videos. Among provaping TikTok videos, the most popular category is vaping tricks (n=107, 27.65%), followed by advertisement (n=85, 21.95%), customization (n=75, 19.38%), TikTok trend (n=70, 18.09%), others (n=44, 11.37%), and education (n=6, 1.55%). By comparison, videos showing the TikTok trend had significantly higher user engagement (like count per video) than other provaping videos. Antivaping videos included 15 (50%) videos with the TikTok trend, 10 (33.33%) videos on education, and 5 (16.67%) videos about others. Videos with education have a significantly lower number of likes than other antivaping videos. Most TikTok users posting vaping-related videos are personal accounts (119/203, 58.62%).

CONCLUSIONS

Vaping-related TikTok videos are dominated by provaping videos focusing on vaping tricks, advertisement, customization, and TikTok trend. Videos with the TikTok trend have higher user engagement than other video categories. Our findings provide important information on vaping-related videos shared on TikTok and their user engagement levels, which might provide valuable guidance on future policy making, such as possible restrictions on provaping videos posted on TikTok, as well as how to effectively communicate with the public about the potential health risks of vaping.

#NicotineAddictionCheck: Puff Bar Culture, Addiction Apathy, and Promotion of E-Cigarettes on TikTok

This study aimed to classify and delineate types of user-generated content about the disposable e-cigarette Puff Bar shared on the popular video-based social media platform TikTok. We qualitatively analyzed 148 popular TikTok videos collected in July 2020. During an iterative process of data reduction and thematic analysis, we categorized videos by overarching genres and identified emergent themes. Young adults were engaged at all stages of the research process. Together, videos were viewed over 137 million times on TikTok. Seven genres of Puff Bar content emerged: skits and stories, shared vaper experiences, videos to show off, product reviews, product unboxing, promotion of Puff Bar, and crafts. Videos depicted Puff Bar users’ apathy about addiction and a lack of concern of the health effects of e-cigarette use. Additionally, Puff Bar promotion content from underground retailers was extensive and some targeted underage persons. Qualitative analysis of social media content can richly describe emerging online culture and illuminate the motivations of adolescent and young adult e-cigarette use. Social media can facilitate new product adoption; comprehensive e-cigarette regulation and enforcement can counteract these effects by closing loopholes through which new products emerge.

Toward a theory of smart media usage: The moderating role of smart media market development

Smart media usage is influenced by certain critical factors and can be further affected by the degree of diffusion in the market. However, existing research lacks sufficient understanding of the factors affecting smart media usage and their influential mechanisms. Taking AI-enabled smart TV in China as the research object, this study (1) develops a base model that includes users' three key gratifications (bi-directional communication, personalization, and co-creation); and (2) takes two sub-dimensions of market development (geographic segment and income segment) as moderators. Using data from 407 valid samples of current users, the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis suggests that these three key smart gratifications can impact continuance intention with the moderating effect of market development. This study thus contributes to the literature by (1) clarifying the smart media gratification opportunities (smart media users' motivations or needs) for using smart media itself; (2) exploring the impact of the degree of market development on the uses and gratifications of the smart media itself; and (3) combining the uses and gratifications theory, and the diffusion of innovations theory, to complement each other in a model that provides a more complete picture of smart media usage.

Arresting fake news sharing on social media: a theory of planned behavior approach

Purpose

This study aims to examine the collective impact of awareness and knowledge about fake news, attitudes toward news verification, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, fear of missing out (FoMO) and sadism on social media users’ intention to verify news before sharing on social media.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study’s conceptual framework is developed by a comprehensive literature review on social networking and the theory of planned behavior. The data for samples were collected from 400 respondents in India to test the conceptual framework using the partial least square–structural equation modeling technique.

Findings

The results show that awareness and knowledge, perceived behavioral control, attitudes toward news verification and FoMO are significant predictors of intention to verify news before sharing.

Research limitations/implications

The present study concludes implications for managers of social media companies and policy actors that want to take steps toward arresting the spread of fake news via social media.

Originality/value

Academic investigation on fake news sharing on social media has recently gained traction. The current work is unique because it uses the theory of planned behavior as a basis for predicting social media user’s intention to verify news before sharing on social media.

Applying social media to environmental education: is it more impactful than traditional media?

Purpose

This study aims to explore how social media help promote environmental education and pro-environmental behaviours by analysing how young adults access social media and traditional media to obtain environmental information differently, how environmental ideas are disseminated through social media and how people perceive and realise environmentalism.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative study based on a semi-structured interview with student participants. The questions used in the interview were developed by on the integrated waste reduction model by Nishio and Takeuchi (2005) and the enhanced model proposed by Ho et al. (2019).

Findings

The results indicate that young adults agree and accept that living environmentally friendly lifestyles is an important goal. Although they acquire environmental information from social media, they seldom share or interact with those social media posts. This behaviour implies that they are information receivers when dealing with such contents.

Originality/value

The finding of this study provides insight for stakeholders on how to promote related knowledge and encourage people to be “greener” more often and construct a friendlier atmosphere for fostering more in-depth environmental discussions on social media.

Role of technology in restructuring the traditional practices around death and mourning in Kashmir

Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study aimed to highlight the evolving technological dimensions of death and mourning practices and its transfer from a set physical setting to virtual and open space. The study was carried on 30 participants from Kashmir. Data was collected using in-depth face-to-face interviews and field notes were also used to capture non-verbal communication. The results of the study revealed that a considerable shift is being witnessed so far as death and mourning practices in Kashmir are concerned. The physical space is shrinking and giving way for virtual spaces to play their role in practices related to death and mourning.

Social capital and Internet use in an age-comparative perspective with a focus on later life

Older adults (aged 65+) are still less likely to adopt the Internet when compared to other age groups, although their usage is increasing. To explore the societal effects of Internet usage, scholars have been using social capital as an analytical tool. Social capital pertains to the resources that are potentially available in one’s social ties. As the Internet becomes a prominent source of information, communication, and participation in industrialized countries, it is critical to study how it affects social resources from an age-comparative perspective. Research has found a positive association between Internet use and social capital, though limited attention has been paid to older adults. Studies have also found a positive association between social capital and wellbeing, health, sociability, and social support amongst older adults. However, little is known about how Internet usage or lack thereof relates to their social capital. To address this gap, we used a mixed-methods approach to examine the relationship between Internet usage and social capital and whether and how it differs by age. For this, we surveyed a representative sample of 417 adults (18+) living in Lisbon, Portugal, of which 118 are older adults. Social capital was measured through bonding, bridging, and specific resources, and analyzed with Latent Class Modeling and logistic regressions. Internet usage was measured through frequency and type of use. Fourteen follow-up semi-structured interviews helped contextualize the survey data. Our findings show that social capital decreased with age but varied for each type of Internet user. Older adults were less likely to have a high level of social capital; yet within this age group, frequent Internet users had higher levels than other users and non-users. On the one hand, the Internet seems to help maintain, accrue, and even mobilize social capital. On the other hand, it also seems to reinforce social inequality and accumulated advantage (known as the Matthew effect).

Latent Class Models in action: bridging social capital & Internet usage

This paper explores how Latent Class Models (LCM) can be applied in social research, when the basic assumptions of regression models cannot be validated. We examine the usefulness of this method with data collected from a study on the relationship between bridging social capital and the Internet. Social capital is defined here as the resources that are potentially available in one's social ties. Bridging is a dimension of social capital, usually related to weak ties (acquaintances), and a source of instrumental resources such as information. The study surveyed a stratified random sample of 417 inhabitants of Lisbon, Portugal. We used LCM to create the variable bridging social capital, but also to estimate the relationship between bridging social capital and Internet usage when we encountered convergence problems with the logistic regression analysis. We conclude by showing a positive relationship between bridging and Internet usage, and by discussing the potential of LCM for social science research.

Digital Reading

Information and communications technology is bringing about significant changes not only in the amount of information and documents available but also in the agents that produce them and in the way they are organised, managed and consumed. The various Unesco programmes, the ministerial resolutions and the initiatives introduced by different countries reflect the need to and the difficulty of preserving documents in the digital environment, where it is necessary to achieve a balance between the need to preserve everything and the possibility of implementing the necessary safeguards.

Virtual Mourning and Memory Construction on Facebook

This article investigates the online information practices of persons grieving and mourning via Facebook. It examines how, or whether, these practices and Facebook’s terms of use policies have implications for the bereaved and/or the memory of the deceased. To explore these questions, we compared traditional publicly recorded asynchronous modes of grieving (i.e., obituaries) with Facebook’s asynchronous features (i.e., pages, photos, messages, profiles, comments). Additionally, by applying observational techniques to Facebook memorial pages and Facebook profiles, conducting a survey, and interviewing respondents as a follow-up to the survey, we examined the benefits of and issues surrounding online information sharing via Facebook when coping with the loss of another. We found that the immediacy of publishing comments, messages, wall posts, and photos provides Facebook mourners with a quick outlet for their emotions and a means of timely group support; however, these actions directly affect the online curation of the deceased’s self and memory and also create an environment of competition among mourners. The aforementioned benefits and complications of using Facebook during bereavement are shaped by the policies outlined by the social media platform.