Identification and Characterization of Synthetic Nicotine Product Promotion and Sales on Instagram Using Natural Language Processing.

Journal: Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
PMID:

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: There has been a rapid proliferation of synthetic nicotine products in recent years, despite newly established regulatory authority and limited research into its health risks. Previous research has implicated social media platforms as an avenue for nicotine product unregulated sales. Yet, little is known about synthetic nicotine product content on social media. We utilized natural language processing to characterize the sales of synthetic nicotine products on Instagram.

Authors

  • Neal A Shah
    Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Zhuoran Li
    North China University of Technology, Beijing 100144, China.
  • Tiana McMann
    Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Alec J Calac
    Global Health Policy and Data Institute, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Nicolette Le
    Global Health Program Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
  • Matthew C Nali
    Department of Anesthesiology and Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92037, USA; Global Health Policy Institute, San Diego, CA, USA; S-3 Research, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Raphael E Cuomo
    Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA.
  • Tim K Mackey
    Department of Anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA; Division of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA; Global Health Policy Institute, San Diego, CA, USA. Electronic address: tmackey@ucsd.edu.