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Categorizing IQOS-Related Twitter Discussions

Author

Listed:
  • Joshua O. Barker

    (Department of Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA)

  • Julia Vassey

    (Department of Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA)

  • Julia C. Chen-Sankey

    (Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA)

  • Jon-Patrick Allem

    (Department of Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA)

  • Tess Boley Cruz

    (Department of Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA)

  • Jennifer B. Unger

    (Department of Preventative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA)

Abstract

(1) Background: The heated tobacco product IQOS, by Philip Morris International, is now available in over 55 countries, including the United States. Social media sites such as Twitter are often used to promote or discuss tobacco products, though prior research has not examined how IQOS is presented on Twitter. (2) Methods: This study collected and categorized Twitter conversations involving IQOS. A manual content analysis was performed on N = 3916 English tweets related to IQOS published internationally between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2020. (3) Results: Most tweets were either online marketing for IQOS (32.3%) or personal testimonials related to IQOS use (34.2%). Personal testimonial tweets made harm reduction claims about IQOS either as an avenue to quit smoking/tobacco use (3.4%), or in comparison to combustible cigarettes (2.0%). Tobacco policy-related tweets were detected (13.9%), split between discussions of United States (4.9%) and international (4.4%) policies. News media tweets (14.2%) were also detected. (4) Conclusions: Our study suggests IQOS may be understood as a less harmful alternative to vaping and combustible cigarettes. Discussions also suggest IQOS is likely to be used to avoid clean air policies or used in areas in which smoking is restricted.

Suggested Citation

  • Joshua O. Barker & Julia Vassey & Julia C. Chen-Sankey & Jon-Patrick Allem & Tess Boley Cruz & Jennifer B. Unger, 2021. "Categorizing IQOS-Related Twitter Discussions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-10, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4836-:d:547337
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aleksandra Ratajczak & Piotr Jankowski & Piotr Strus & Wojciech Feleszko, 2020. "Heat Not Burn Tobacco Product—A New Global Trend: Impact of Heat-Not-Burn Tobacco Products on Public Health, a Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-12, January.
    2. Carla J. Berg & Yael Bar-Zeev & Hagai Levine, 2020. "Informing iQOS Regulations in the United States: A Synthesis of What We Know," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440198, January.
    3. Sabrina L. Smiley & Stephanie Kim & Alia Mourali & Jon-Patrick Allem & Jennifer B. Unger & Tess Boley Cruz, 2020. "Characterizing #Backwoods on Instagram: “The Number One Selling All Natural Cigar”," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-8, June.
    4. Minji Kim & Shannon Lea Watkins & Kimberly A. Koester & Jeremiah Mock & Hyunjin Cindy Kim & Sarah Olson & Arit Michael Harvanko & Pamela M. Ling, 2020. "Unboxed: US Young Adult Tobacco Users’ Responses to a New Heated Tobacco Product," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-14, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Carla J. Berg & Lorien C. Abroms & Hagai Levine & Katelyn F. Romm & Amal Khayat & Christina N. Wysota & Zongshuan Duan & Yael Bar-Zeev, 2021. "IQOS Marketing in the US: The Need to Study the Impact of FDA Modified Exposure Authorization, Marketing Distribution Channels, and Potential Targeting of Consumers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-10, October.
    2. Jiayan Gu & Lorien C. Abroms & David A. Broniatowski & W. Douglas Evans, 2022. "An Investigation of Influential Users in the Promotion and Marketing of Heated Tobacco Products on Instagram: A Social Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-11, February.

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    Keywords

    social media; IQOS; tobacco; Twitter;
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