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Tweeting about public health policy: Social media response to the UK Government’s announcement of a Parliamentary vote on draft standardised packaging regulations

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  • Jenny L Hatchard
  • Joao Quariguasi Frota Neto
  • Christos Vasilakis
  • Karen A Evans-Reeves

Abstract

Background: Standardised tobacco packaging has been, and remains, a contentious policy globally, attracting corporate, public health, political, media and popular attention. In January 2015, the UK Government announced it would vote on draft regulations for the policy before the May 2015 General Election. We explored reactions to the announcement on Twitter, in comparison with an earlier period of little UK Government activity on standardised packaging. Methods: We obtained a random sample of 1038 tweets in two 4-week periods, before and after the UK Government’s announcement. Content analysis was used to examine the following Tweet characteristics: support for the policy, purpose, Twitter-user’s geographical location and affiliation, and evidence citation and quality. Chi-squared analyses were used to compare Tweet characteristics between the two periods. Results: Overall, significantly more sampled Tweets were in favour of the policy (49%) in comparison to those opposed (19%). Yet, at Time 2, following the announcement, a greater proportion of sampled tweets opposed standardised packaging compared to the period sampled at Time 1, prior to the announcement (p

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny L Hatchard & Joao Quariguasi Frota Neto & Christos Vasilakis & Karen A Evans-Reeves, 2019. "Tweeting about public health policy: Social media response to the UK Government’s announcement of a Parliamentary vote on draft standardised packaging regulations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0211758
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211758
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Selda Ulucanlar & Gary J Fooks & Jenny L Hatchard & Anna B Gilmore, 2014. "Representation and Misrepresentation of Scientific Evidence in Contemporary Tobacco Regulation: A Review of Tobacco Industry Submissions to the UK Government Consultation on Standardised Packaging," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-15, March.
    2. Emily Savell & Anna B Gilmore & Gary Fooks, 2014. "How Does the Tobacco Industry Attempt to Influence Marketing Regulations? A Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(2), pages 1-10, February.
    3. Jan Tempel & Aliya Noormohamed & Robert Schwartz & Cameron Norman & Muhannad Malas & Laurie Zawertailo, 2016. "Vape, quit, tweet? Electronic cigarettes and smoking cessation on Twitter," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 61(2), pages 249-256, March.
    4. Selda Ulucanlar & Gary J Fooks & Anna B Gilmore, 2016. "The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity," PLOS Medicine, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, September.
    5. Harris, J.K. & Moreland-Russell, S. & Tabak, R.G. & Ruhr, L.R., 2014. "Communication about childhood obesity on twitter," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 104(7), pages 62-69.
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    Cited by:

    1. Christina Sabbagh & Emma Boyland & Catherine Hankey & Alison Parrett, 2020. "Analysing Credibility of UK Social Media Influencers’ Weight-Management Blogs: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Louisa Walsh & Nerida Hyett & Nicole Juniper & Chi Li & Sophie Hill, 2022. "The Experiences of Stakeholders Using Social Media as a Tool for Health Service Design and Quality Improvement: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-29, November.

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