Citation

Trigger S, Coleman B. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019; 16(8): e16081308.

Affiliation

Office of Science, Center for Tobacco Products, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. blair.coleman@fda.hhs.gov.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph16081308

PMID

31013680

Abstract

Serious injuries may result from electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) battery malfunctions, including overheating, fires, and explosions (O/F/E). This pilot study assessed the usefulness of social media monitoring as a tool for gathering information surrounding ENDS battery O/F/E, including changes in the volume and nature of social media mentions over time. Brandwatch, a social media monitoring tool, was queried to examine ENDS battery-related O/F/E over a one-month period, annually, from 2013-2017. Two researchers qualitatively coded the social media mentions for relevance and coded the relevant mentions by event type and theme. The total number of mentions coded as relevant (n = 947) for the one-month period increased each year. Mentions of first-person events were relatively infrequent (3.6% of relevant mentions), while mentions describing events that happened to someone else increased over time (60.4% of relevant mentions). A relatively small proportion of mentions expressed concern around a potential event and advice on how to prevent future events (4.8% and 10.5% of relevant mentions, respectively).

FINDINGS suggest that social media mentions around ENDS battery O/F/E events have increased over recent years. Social media monitoring can complement traditional surveillance systems to elucidate the extent to which ENDS O/F/E events are occurring.

Language: en

Keywords

electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS); explosions; fires; overheating; social media