Campaigns and counter campaigns: reactions on Twitter to e-cigarette education

Abstract

Background Social media present opportunities for public health departments to galvanise interest in health issues. A challenge is creating content that will resonate with target audiences, and determining reactions to educational material. Twitter can be used as a real-time surveillance system to capture individuals’ immediate reactions to education campaigns and such information could lead to better campaigns in the future. A case study testing Twitter’s potential presented itself when the California Department of Public Health launched its ‘Still Blowing Smoke’ media campaign about the potential harmful effects of e-cigarettes. Pro-e-cigarette advocacy groups, in response, launched a counter campaign titled ‘Not Blowing Smoke’. This study tracked the popularity of the two campaigns on Twitter, analysed the content of the messages and determined who was involved in these discussions. Methods The study period was from 22 March 2015 to 27 June 2015. A stratified sampling procedure supplied 2192 tweets for analysis. Content analysis identified pro, anti and neutral e-cigarette tweets, and five additional themes: Marketing Elements, Money, Regulation/propaganda, Health, and Other. Metadata were analysed to obtain additional information about Twitter accounts. Results ‘Not Blowing Smoke’ was referenced more frequently than ‘Still Blowing Smoke’ on Twitter. Messages commonly objected to government regulation of e-cigarettes, refuted claims that e-cigarette manufactures were aligned with big tobacco, and touted the health benefits of e-cigarette use. E-cigarette companies and vape shops used campaign slogans to communicate with customers on Twitter. Conclusions Findings showed the time dynamics of Twitter and the possibility for real-time monitoring of education campaigns.

E-Cigarette Social Media Messages: A Text Mining Analysis of Marketing and Consumer Conversations on Twitter

“…Similar trends of Twitter conversations dominated with pro–e-cigarette content have been detected in response to e-cigarette educational campaigns and announcements of e-cigarette regulations [39,40]. Our findings, which mirror these trends of countercampaigns and antipolicy Twitter bombing to flood conversations with one perspective [39,40], highlight the pressing need for public health professionals to engage the public on social media.…”

“…Similar trends of Twitter conversations dominated with pro–e-cigarette content have been detected in response to e-cigarette educational campaigns and announcements of e-cigarette regulations [39,40]. Our findings, which mirror these trends of countercampaigns and antipolicy Twitter bombing to flood conversations with one perspective [39,40], highlight the pressing need for public health professionals to engage the public on social media. This finding reveals perhaps an even larger concern for all public health professionals: each person who goes online to do a little research about e-cigarettes is going to encounter a tilted conversation encouraging e-cigarette use, promoting vaping as a socially acceptable practice for all ages, discrediting scientific evidence for health risks, and rallying around the idea that e-cigarettes should largely be outside the bounds of policy.…”

Methods for Coding Tobacco-Related Twitter Data: A Systematic Review

“…Furthermore, social media can be used to counter antitobacco campaigns. When the anti–e-cigarette campaign Still Blowing Smoke [4] was released by the State of California on television and Facebook, the pro–e-cigarette campaign Not Blowing Smoke [5], developed by pro-vaping groups, countered by taking the Twitter handles @StillBlwngSmoke [6] and @NotBlwngSmoke [7] to challenge the California campaign’s messages [8]. …”

E-cigarette Regulatory Attitudes in Groups with Low Policy Support

“…25 E-cigarette advocacy groups have recently used similar tactics to try to convince e-cigarette users and others that the California Department of Health Services' motive for supporting a new tax on e-cigarettes was driven by a desire to collect more tax money, not to protect public health. 26 An important finding in this study was that most participants favored taxes if the tax money would fund health education, research, and cessation programs. Participants were somewhat supportive of using e-cigarette tax money to fund treatment for other substance use problems, but some who were e-cigarette users would resent having to pay e-cigarette taxes that would be used for health problems caused by combustible cigarettes.…”