Characterizing JUUL-related posts on Twitter

Abstract

Background: As vaping rapidly becomes more prevalent, social media data can be harnessed to capture individuals’ discussions of e-cigarette products quickly. The JUUL vaporizer is the latest advancement in e-cigarette technology, which delivers nicotine to the user from a device that is the size and shape of a thumb drive. Despite JUUL’s growing popularity, little research has been conducted on JUUL. Here we utilized Twitter data to determine the public’s early experiences with JUUL describing topics of posts. Methods: Twitter posts containing the term “JUUL” were obtained for 1 April 2107 to 14 December 2017. Text classifiers were used to identify topics in posts (n = 81,689). Results: The most prevalent topic wasPerson Tagging (use of @username to tag someone in a post) at 20.48% followed by Pods (mentions of JUUL’s refill cartridge) at 14.72% and Buying (mentions of purchases) at 10.49%. The topic School (posts indicative of using JUUL or seeing someone use JUUL while at elementary, middle, or high school) comprised 3.66% of posts. The topic of Quit Smoking was rare at 0.29%. Conclusions: Data from social media may be used to extend the surveillance of newly introduced vaping products. Findings suggest Twitter users are bonding around, and inquiring about, JUUL on social media. JUUL’s discreetness may facilitate its use in places where vaping is prohibited. Educators may be in need of training on how to identify JUUL in the classroom. Despite JUUL’s branding as a smoking alternative, very few Twitter users mentioned smoking cessation with JUUL.

Topic Clustering of E-Cigarette Submissions Among Reddit Communities: A Network Perspective

“…Research shows individuals are more likely to share information about ecigarettes on social media if they are current users or have favorable opinions about vaping products (Emery, Vera, Huang, & Szczypka, 2014). Moreover, studies suggest individuals connected through social media may bond through online e-cigarette discussions, which could normalize e-cigarette use (Allem et al, 2018).…”

Insights on electronic cigarette products from reviews on the Reddit forum

“…Small battery size was identified as preferable, possibly considered sleeker, pointing to another design feature that could be regulated in the future. Prior research has documented that the overall size and sleek shape of e-cigarette devices (especially JUUL) were discussed features on social media including among youth 22,43 . Modular and compatible e-cigarette designs may facilitate transition across different types of devices (e.g.…”

“…Publicly accessible data from social media platforms (like Twitter and Instagram) have been used in prior research to capture and document the environmental context and appeal of e-cigarette use [20][21][22] . Such platforms may also be able to provide insight to the product design features of e-cigarettes that increase their appeal to current and potential users.…”

“…Social media platforms facilitate rapid data collection, capturing organic conversations about topics of great import (like e-cigarettes) from the public in their own words. In this way, information pulled from social media can be treated like a focus group [20][21][22] .…”

Predicting Current Juul use among Emerging Adults through Twitter Feeds

“…The popularity of Juul use among young people is partly facilitated by its resemblance to a USB-drive, high level of nicotine, and emissions that are hard to see [3]. Several recent studies explore and characterize social media posts related to Juul use and dependency [4,5,6,7]; however, to our knowledge, none are designed for the purpose of predictive modeling of Juul usage by consumers based on their social media feeds. In this first of its kind study, using self-reported survey answers as ground truth, we explore the potential for using publicly available historical Twitter data, including Twitter messages (tweets) and friend and follower networks, to predict an individual's past 30-day use of Juul.…”