Policy, Advertising and Social Media Related to E-cigarette Consumer Behavior

 描述（由申请人提供）：也许广泛的兴趣和重视社会媒体的行业，政策制定者，研究人员，和其他人是基于这样的假设，即社会媒体活动必须影响个人行为，或至少是行为的反映。然而，很少或根本没有实证研究明确检验这是否属实-社交媒体是否影响个人消费者行为（或至少反映它）？这项提案的主题-电子烟（或电子烟）-是解决这个问题的理想选择。这些电池供电的尼古丁输送设备在过去五年中出现在美国市场，并在社交媒体等网络上拥有强大的影响力。在各州不同的烟草控制水平和一系列电子烟广告的背景下，意识（2010年的40.9%到2012年的75.4%）和使用电子烟（2010年的3.3%到2012年的8.1%）的比例急剧上升。根据社会生态模型和创新扩散，社会影响、广告和公共政策等背景因素在烟草使用和采用率方面发挥着重要作用。在此基础上，我们将研究具体的烟草控制政策（根据美国肺脏协会的烟草控制状态）和电子烟广告（根据竞争对手广告数据）与社交媒体活动的关系，特别是Twitter活动（数量，情绪和Gnip来源）。我们还将根据尼尔森消费者小组的数据，研究这些与电子烟购买有关的更大的背景因素（烟草控制活动，电子烟广告，Twitter活动），该数据记录了2004年开始在60，000多名小组成员中的通用产品代码（UPC）水平上的家庭购买。我们将通过邮政编码对这些数据集进行三角测量，并使用2011年1月至2013年12月的数据。我们的具体目标是：1）研究电子烟Twitter活动之间的关联根据尼尔森消费者小组数据，（数量，情绪，来源）和电子烟购买行为（数量）; 2）检查烟草控制政策（预防、戒烟、税收、无烟政策）和电子烟广告（传统媒体、新媒体）与电子烟推特活动的关系; 3）通过烟草控制政策、电子烟广告和电子烟Twitter活动，对电子烟购买进行建模。独特的三角测量 这些多层次的数据将产生及时和重要的信息，因为电子烟的出现;新媒体和社交媒体的使用越来越多，以促进电子烟，其他烟草产品和更广泛的物质使用;以及需要了解政策和广告对社交媒体活动的影响，并最终使用电子烟。检查R21的上述目标将确定这些关联是否存在，并为更大范围的研究提供数据，包括电子烟的在线销售，更大范围的广告工作，以及县或城市内的烟草控制活动，以进一步推断社交媒体对电子烟使用的影响。这可为检查与使用其他物质有关的类似因素提供依据。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Perhaps the broad interest in and the importance placed on social media by industry, policymakers, researchers, and others is based on the assumption that social media activity must impact individual behavior, or at least be a reflection of behavior. However, there is little or no empirical research explicitly examining whether or not this is true - does social media impact individual consumer behavior (or at least reflect it)? The topic of this proposal - electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes) - is ideal for addressing this question. These battery-powered nicotine delivery devices have emerged in the U.S. market in the past five years and have had a strong online presence, including within social media. Within the context of varied levels of tobacco control across states and a range of e-cigarette advertising, there were a dramatic increases in awareness (40.9% in 2010 to 75.4% in 2012) and use of e-cigarettes (3.3% ever use in 2010 to 8.1% in 2012). Drawing from the Socio Ecological Model and Diffusion of Innovation, contextual factors such as social influence, advertising, and public policy play an important role in tobacco use and rate of adoption. Using this foundation, we will examine specific tobacco control policies (per the American Lung Association's State of Tobacco Control) and e-cigarette advertising (per Competitrack Advertising Data) in relation to social media activity, specifically Twitter activity (volume, sentiment, and source from Gnip). We will also examine these greater contextual factors (tobacco control activity, e-cigarette advertising, Twitter activity) in relation to e-cigarette purchases, per the Nielsen Consumer Panel data, which records household purchases at the Universal Product Code (UPC) level among over 60,000 panelists beginning in 2004. We will triangulate these data sets through ZIP codes and use data from January 2011 to December 2013. Our specific aims are to: 1) examine the association between e-cigarette Twitter activity (volume, sentiment, source) and e-cigarette purchasing behavior (volume) per the Nielsen Consumer Panel data; 2) examine tobacco control policies (prevention, cessation, tax, smoke- free policy) and e-cigarette advertising (traditional, new media) in relation to e-cigarette Twitte activity; and 3) model e-cigarette purchasing through tobacco control policies, e-cigarette advertising, and e-cigarette Twitter activity over time and across states. The unique triangulation of these multilevel data will yield timely and important information given the emergence of e-cigarettes; the increased use of new and social media to promote e-cigarettes, other tobacco products, and substance use more broadly; and the need to understand the impact of policy and advertising on social media activity and ultimately the use of e-cigarettes. Examining the aforementioned aims of this R21 will establish whether these associations exist and provide data for a larger study including online sales of e-cigarettes, a larger range of advertising effors, and tobacco control activities within counties or cities to further extrapolate and contextualize the impact of social media on e- cigarette use. This may provide a basis for examination of similar factors related to use of other substances.