An Investigation of Influential Users in the Promotion and Marketing of Heated Tobacco Products on Instagram: A Social Network Analysis.

Jiayan Gu,Lorien C Abroms,David A Broniatowski,W Douglas Evans

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031686

Abstract

While an increasing body of the literature has documented the exposure to emerging tobacco products including heated tobacco products (HTPs) on social media, few studies have investigated the various stakeholders involved in the generation of promotional tobacco content. This study constructed a social network of Instagram users who posted IQOS content, a leading HTP brand, between 1 January and 5 April 2021 and identified users who positioned near the center of the network. We identified 4526 unique Instagram users who had created 19,951 IQOS-related posts during the study period. Nearly half of the users (42.1%) were business accounts authorized by Instagram, among which 59.0% belonged to Personal Goods and General Merchandise Stores and 18.1% belonged to Creators and Celebrities. For users with higher in-degree, out-degree, betweenness, and closeness centrality in the network, the majority of them were accounts directly associated with IQOS (e.g., containing “iqos” in username) or related to tobacco business as self-identified in the bio. Our findings further refine the social media marketing presence of tobacco products and suggest that the current self-regulatory efforts led by social media platforms are far from enough.

Highlights

Heated tobacco products (HTPs), known as heat-not-burn tobacco products, are one of the alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS) that have successfully entered the global tobacco market in recent years [1,2]
We identified a total of 19,951 Instagram posts that contained a hashtag of #IQOS, published by 4526 unique Instagram accounts
Almost half of the users were Instagram-authorized business accounts (42.1%), among which 59.0% belonged to the category of personal goods and general merchandise stores and 18.1% belonged to creators and celebrities

Summary

Introduction

Heated tobacco products (HTPs), known as heat-not-burn tobacco products, are one of the alternative nicotine delivery systems (ANDS) that have successfully entered the global tobacco market in recent years [1,2]. Research not commissioned by tobacco manufacturers cautions that while HTPs may expose users to lower levels of some toxicants than cigarettes, they contain higher levels of other toxicants that may lead to increased risks of impaired vascular endothelial function, pulmonary effects, and liver toxicity [4,6,7,8,9]. Nicotine addiction is a chronic and relapsing illness characterized by compulsive seeking and use, despite user awareness about risks and desire to quit [10]. These facts raise health concerns for youth and young adults who are more vulnerable to nicotine addictiveness [11]

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