Live, Love, Juul: User and Content Analysis of Twitter Posts about Juul

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Media Analysis
• Tobacco Control

Background:

• The rise of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) like Juul presents new challenges for public health surveillance.
• Social media platforms are key arenas for public discourse and information dissemination regarding tobacco products.
• Understanding communication patterns around Juul is crucial for developing effective public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and analyze communication patterns, user types, sentiments, genres, and themes related to Juul use on Twitter.
• To assess the nature of online discourse surrounding Juul, including advocacy and discouragement.
• To evaluate the potential of Twitter data for monitoring emerging tobacco products.

Main Methods:

• Collection of public tweets related to Juul from April 27, 2018, to June 27, 2018.
• Randomly selected and categorized 1008 tweets based on user type, sentiment, genre, and theme.
• Analysis of communication characteristics from various user groups, including personal accounts, the tobacco industry, and public health entities.

Main Results:

• Personal accounts and the tobacco industry were the most frequent sources of Juul-related tweets.
• Tweets primarily focused on first-hand use, intentions, and personal opinions, with advocacy for Juul use being most common.
• Young women, young men, and the tobacco industry exhibited predominantly positive sentiments towards Juul, while anti-tobacco voices were limited.
• Limited evidence supported Juul's efficacy as a smoking cessation aid.

Conclusions:

• Twitter serves as a valuable resource for monitoring public communication regarding emerging tobacco products like Juul.
• Youth actively engage with and express positive sentiments about Juul on social media, necessitating targeted educational interventions.
• Current educational strategies may require re-evaluation to effectively address the normalization and promotion of Juul use among young people and non-smokers.