DISC2015

Saying, Searching, and Selling: Electronic Cigarettes on Social Media in China

• Miao Feng, Ph.D. Candidate, Health Media Collaboratory, Institute for Health Research & Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Weiai Xu (Wayne), Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher, Network Science Institute, Northeastern University (Boston) curiositybits.com

Outline:

Why focus on saying, searching and selling?Why study electronic cigarettes in China?What can we learn from the data?Our difficulties

DISC2015

Saying Searching Selling:

WHY FOCUS ON SAYING, SEARCHING AND SELLING?

Awareness

Social media conversations

Information seeking

Search activities on search engine

Adoption

Volume of sales and search on e-

commerce sites

WHY ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES?

Rapid increases in its use and marketing effortsLittle or nothing is known about how electronic cigarettes are marketed and discussed on social media platforms.

Its effect is unknownHealthcare professionals, researchers, tobacco companies and retailers have been debating about the effect of electronic cigarettes on smoking cessation and possible side effects.

A country of smokers53% of men and 2.4% of women, or approximately 300 million adult smokers in China

A major manufacturer and an emergent marketFirst produced and marketed heavily in China, starting in 2004--three years before any similar products or related marketing efforts appeared in the US

WHY ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES IN CHINA?

Saying Searching Selling:

THREE DATA SOURCES

Sina Weibo (Microblogging)

Baidu (Search Engine)

Taobao (E-Commerce)

- Who participated in social media conversations about electronic cigarettes?

- Who played a leading role?

- How did the conversations evolve over time?

- Communication patterns?

KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS

CONVERSATIONS BY ENGAGEMENT TYPE

Conversations mostly driven by average citizens. But, business, government, news media and public figures also chimed in

WHO PARTICIPATED?

HOW CONVERSATIONS EVOLVED?

Marketing by manufacturers

Public health campaigns by government

Manufacturers and retailers as original content contributors

Peaks reflect the intensity of their marketing efforts

THE ROLE OF BUSINESS

Government accounts as amplifiers

Peaks reflect governments' public health campaigns and tobacco control efforts

THE ROLE OF GOV

News media as original content contributors

Peaks represent government-led public health campaigns

THE ROLE OF MEDIA

Public figures as amplifiers of negative news coverage of electronic cigarettes

THE ROLE OF PUBLIC FIGURES

THE ROLE OF THE AVERAGE PUBLIC

Average citizens are amplifiers

Driven by manufacturers and retailers

VIRALITY

COMMENTING INTENSITY

Driven by manufacturers and retailers

WEIBO CONVERSATION NETWORK

Manufacturers and retailers are central in the discussion network

TAKEAWAY FROM THE STUDY OF SAYING

• Conversations are driven by key events in the development and promotion of electronic cigarettes

• Different users played different roles• Citizens are active but manufacturers and retailers drove the most attention

and action

THE E-CIGAR TREND ON TWITTER

Binns, et al. (2014) A Year of Ecig Promotion on Twitter. (Internal data/poster at HMC)

DATA ON SEARCH

In progress:

Search data from Baidu Index

SEARCH– WEIBO CONVERSATIONS ON E-CIGAR

In progress:

Keyword search volume on Taobao

LESSONS

• Multiple data sources of digital behaviors for a complete modeling of human behavior

• Multiple dimensions: user profiles, content and conversation networks

THANK YOU!