Three Eras in Global Tobacco Control: How Global Governance Processes Influenced Online Tobacco Control Networking

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Network Science
• Public Policy

Background:

• Online networks facilitate policy diffusion and global health governance.
• Understanding how governance changes affect these networks is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the influence of global health governance shifts on the structure of online advocacy networks.
• To compare social network metrics of Globalink across distinct global tobacco control governance eras.

Main Methods:

• Social network analysis of Globalink, an online tobacco control advocate network.
• Comparison of network metrics (average degree centrality, density, clustering coefficient) across three periods: pre-Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), FCTC negotiations, and the Bloomberg Initiative.

Main Results:

• Pre-1999: Network driven by few high-income countries (AVGD=1.908).
• FCTC negotiations (1999-2005): Rapid growth in country representation, with new members connecting regionally (AVGD=2.824).
• Bloomberg Initiative (2006-2012): Increased centrality of the US (AVGD=3.414), indicating network clustering.

Conclusions:

• Global institutionalization (e.g., FCTC) can foster decentralized online network growth.
• Private funding initiatives (e.g., Bloomberg Initiative) may lead to network centralization and concentrated influence.