Popular Video Research Articles

#Storytime: An analysis of COVID-19 origin narratives and conspiracies on TikTok

ABSTRACT This study delves into the construction, communication, and reception of crisis narratives on TikTok, specifically focusing on videos discussing the purported origins of COVID-19 via the hashtag #covidorigin. Employing a content analysis approach, this research examines patterns in content types and their relationship with public engagement metrics such as views, likes, comments, and shares. This study observed that popular TikTok videos discussing the origin of COVID-19 majorly incorporated at least one of the following: a first-hand narrative (a story in the first-person), a secondhand narrative (an account someone heard from other people), and/or an informational report (e.g., legislative documents, news reports, and book summaries). Additionally, while U.S. intelligence agencies have yet to reach a consensus on COVID-19’s origin, this research detected a surge in #covidorigin videos following a 2023 interview in which FBI Director Wray stated that COVID-19 likely originated from a laboratory incident in China. Overall, this study suggests the influential role public leaders and media sources have in disseminating COVID-19 information and the importance of coherent crisis narratives in shaping public understanding. It also considers the effects of content types and communication formats in terms of how the public engages with speculative claims online.

Personal Experience Sharing Cat Meme Videos among Contemporary Chinese Young People: Take the Bilibili Platform as an Example

Abstract: This study explores the phenomenon of personal experience-sharing cat meme videos among contemporary Chinese young people on the Bilibili platform. By employing qualitative content and discourse analysis on two popular cat meme videos and their comments, this research delves into how these videos foster empathetic communication, thereby forming an interactive connection between creators and audiences. The research finds that the cat meme video connects the real world with the video world through the means of cat meme symbol, scene construction, narrative method, and atmosphere creation. The cat meme video absorbs the audiences emotional perception and identification, so as to promote the audiences emotional fit with the cat meme video and thus trigger the audiences empathy. The findings indicate that viewers are not merely passive recipients but active participants who, through their interactions, enhance the emotional transmission of the videos. This two-way empathy communication leads to the establishment of a supportive online community, where individuals share similar experiences, offer advice, and provide emotional support. Consequently, cat meme videos on Bilibili serve as a medium for young people to express their social emotions, creating a vibrant and emotionally connected online community.

Evaluation of the information quality related to osteoporosis on TikTok

BackgroundOsteoporosis is currently considered the most common bone disease in the world and is characterized by low bone mass, deterioration of the bone tissue microstructure, and decreased bone strength. With the increasing popularity of smartphones and short videos, many patients search for various types of health information through social media, such as short videos. As one of China’s short video giants, TikTok has played a significant role in spreading health information. We found that there are many videos about osteoporosis on TikTok; however, the quality of these short videos has not yet been evaluated.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the information quality of osteoporosis videos on the domestic TikTok platform.MethodsWe retrieved and screened 100 videos about osteoporosis from TikTok, extracted the basic information, encoded the video content, and recorded the source of each video. Two independent raters evaluated the information quality of each video via the DISCERN rating scale.ResultThe videos were divided into three groups according to their source: medical personnel, science communicators, and news media, with medical personnel posting the most videos. The content of the video is divided into 7 groups, namely, disease prevention, disease diagnosis, disease symptoms, disease overview, life-style, drug knowledge, and drug treatment, with the most videos related to disease overview. The average DISCERN score of the videos is 37.69 (SD = 6.78), mainly within the ‘poor’ (54/100, 54%) and ‘appropriate’ (43/100, 43%) rating ranges, with overall quality being low. Further analysis revealed a positive correlation between the number of shares, comments, likes, and favorites, and a positive correlation between the DISCERN score and the number of shares and favorites.ConclusionThe overall quality of videos concerning osteoporosis on TikTok is lower, but the quality of videos varies significantly across different sources. We should be selective and cautious when watching videos about osteoporosis on TikTok.

Prediction of the popularity of artificial intelligence short videos based on MFMA

In this paper, a short video popularity prediction model MFMA is designed based on Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and artificial intelligence, and the popularity prediction in saturation is modeled as a regression problem. Through multimodal fusion, the four video attributes of visual, auditory, text, and social features are compressed as the input of the network to the greatest extent. Using nMSE and SRC as evaluation indicators, compared with other classical regression algorithms and evaluating the impact of different modal deletions on the performance of the model under the assumption of conditional independence, a large number of experiments on the real dataset of Douyin show that the MFMA model has the best prediction effect and is robust to internal noise and external uncertainty, among which the social mode has the most significant impact on the model performance.

Evaluation of TikTok social media posts on side effect information for popular weight loss medications

AbstractIntroductionThe prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing in America, contributing to various health risks. Glucagon‐like peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) and gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP) receptor agonists have bloomed in popularity due to their efficacy and United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for weight loss, igniting popularity on social media. This study focuses on the role of TikTok™ (ByteDance, Haidian, Beijing, China), a popular social media platform, in disseminating understandable and actionable information about the side effects of weight loss medications.MethodsThe study analyzed the top 50 TikTok videos for each of the following hashtags: #ozempicsideeffects, #semaglutidesideeffects, #mounjarosideeffects, and #wegovysideeffects. Videos were evaluated based on their understandability and actionability using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) for audio‐visual (AV) products. PEMAT‐AV scores and popularity of videos were compared between hashtags utilizing one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA). An alpha of 0.05 was used, with Bonferroni correction.ResultsA total of 165 videos were reviewed for PEMAT‐AV understandability and actionability scores. The total visibility of the videos reached over 19.4 million views. A majority of the videos were personal experiences (89%), with only 5% being health care education videos. The average understandability and actionability scores for all videos were 43% and 20%, respectfully. The data presented a difference between searched hashtags for both evaluation scores, p‐values of <0.001 and 0.093, respectively.ConclusionTikTok videos covering weight loss medication side effects have poor understandability and actionability scores. This study highlights the opportunity for more educational videos produced by health care professionals on TikTok, and a potential need for health care organizations and/or colleges of pharmacy to provide education to health care providers on how to create quality content for medication education on social media‐based platforms. Further research is needed to evaluate the credibility of content.

Folk Models of Loot Boxes in Video Games

Regulations require video games to provide transparency regarding loot box odds to keep players informed, leading many games to disclose probabilities in various ways; yet, the extent of players' comprehension of loot box mechanics remains unclear. We performed a content analysis on 80 online posts to understand players' perceptions of loot box odds in two popular video games (Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail). We then conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 players to explore the causes of these folk models across more games. Utilizing a bottom-up open coding approach, we created a taxonomy of folk models players have about loot boxes. We found that participants generally possessed inaccurate mental models of how loot boxes work, and they wanted game companies to enhance loot box transparency in three areas of probability disclosures: granularity, longitude, and scope.

From ‘girlboss’ to #stayathomegirlfriend: The romanticisation of domestic labour on TikTok

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, romanticised depictions of domestic work have proliferated on social media sites. In particular, the increasingly popular TikTok platform is replete with images of domestic labour centred on repetitive routines, catharsis and feminine aesthetics. The #stayathomegirlfriend trend exemplifies this phenomenon. Rooted in tradwife ideology, which advocates a ‘return’ to a male breadwinner model of domesticity, the #stayathomegirlfriend aesthetic espouses a romantic ideal of feminine domesticity as an escape from the ‘double shift’ and represents a backlash to popular feminism’s failed injunction to ‘lean in’. Under this trend, domestic labour is romanticised as an aesthetically pleasing self-care practice for a generation who have watched their mothers suffer through the grind of the neoliberal labour market, and who are themselves incited to become a ‘girlboss’ to survive it. Through a thematic analysis of popular videos under this hashtag trend, this article reveals that stay-at-home girlfriends unwittingly mimic the popular feminist doctrine of ‘empowerment’ through their depictions of domestic self-care and channel ‘girlboss’ culture through their work as social media influencers. Thus, despite purporting to reject popular feminism’s celebration of the ‘girlboss’ and repurpose tradwife ideology for Generation Z, stay-at-home girlfriends accomplish neither: subjugating themselves within the ‘double shift’ and denying the value of their own labour on both fronts.

BookTok Community Building: Dissecting Fangirl Behavior on TikTok

ABSTRACTThis poster explores how BookTok, a social media community on TikTok focused on literature, builds a community among an audience of primarily female readers, sometimes called “fangirls.” The researchers analyzed comments on popular BookTok videos, finding that emotional responses, generic comments, and seeking interaction with other viewers were most prevalent. BookTok discussions prioritize shared experiences and emotional connection over critical analysis, creating a welcoming space for readers of all ages. This research suggests that BookTok functions similarly to traditional book clubs, offering a platform for community building and potentially boosting reading engagement and offers possibilities for engagement for libraries and educators.

Is disinformation more likely to spread? A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of emerging infectious diseases on China’s short video platform

ObjectivesThis study aimed to develop a model for the dissemination of information on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) by identifying the specific features of mpox (monkeypox)-related short video content that encourages...

Visual Representations of Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Tourist Photos

A few decades ago, an enthusiastic researcher would have found relatively few data to analyze, looking for such information about the ruins of modernity as the structural consequences caused by rapid cycles of industrialization and desolation, development and depopulation, conflict and reconciliation. However, conducting the same search today reveals an extraordinary increase in academic and public interest in the ruins of the recent past and the associated abandoned places. The authors of this article join in the discussion and explore the images of deindustrialization posted and distributed in the online communities among abandoned sites enthusiasts. The aim of the research is to form an idea of “everyday life policy” about the abandoned industrial facilities popularized by amateur photographers. “Everyday life policy” is expressed through the signifying and conceptualizing the abandoned and ruined places when putting them in a close-up. The authors rely on the ideas of the architect and historian I. de Sola-Morales, who calls the places left by people “terrain vague”. Photographic images of the terrain vague spaces play an important role in conceptualizing them. In order to understand what meanings exactly shaped the public policy, the authors use the ethnographic method of immersion in the online VKontakte/Telegram communities of abandoned sites enthusiasts to discover the recurring iconographic elements of the derelict places. Deindustrialization in photographs is reflected through 1) loss of human; 2) violence of vegetation or nature agency; 3) artifacts and texts of the past or material objects agency. The authors discuss the similarities of the images taken by amateur photographers and those media clichés found in popular movies and video games. Photographs are a way of explaining space and spatial experience. Furthermore, like any other work of art, a photo conveys not only and not so much the actual characteristics of the depicted objects, thanks to which we can form an idea about them (in this case, about space), but also effects and experiences. Thus, a photograph becomes a tool that helps us form value judgments about the places we have seen.

Real or virtual: a video conferencing background manipulation-detection system

AbstractIn the past few years, the popularity and wide use of video conferencing software enjoyed exponential growth in market size. This technology enables participants in different geographic regions to have a virtual face-to-face meeting. Additionally, it allows participants to utilize virtual backgrounds to hide their real environment with privacy concerns or to reduce distractions, particularly in professional settings. In scenarios where the users should not hide their actual locations, they may mislead other participants into assuming that the displayed virtual backgrounds are real. In this paper, we propose a new publicly-available dataset of virtual and real backgrounds in video conferencing software (e.g., Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams). The presented archive was evaluated by an exhaustive series of tests and scenarios using two well-known features extraction methods: CRSPAM1372 and six co-mat. The first verification scenario considers the case where the detector is unaware of manipulated frames (i.e., the forensically-edited frames are not part of the training set). A model trained on zoom frames that were tested with Google Meet frames can detect real background images from virtual ones in video conferencing software with 99.80% detection accuracy. Furthermore, it is possible to distinguish virtual from real backgrounds in videos created for videoconferencing software at a high detection rate of approximately 99.80%. According to our conclusions, the proposed method greatly enhanced the detection accuracy and resistance against diverse adversarial conditions, making it a reliable technique for classifying actual as opposed to virtual backgrounds in video communications. Given the described dataset provided and some preliminary experiments that we performed, we expect that it will lead to more future research in this domain.

Quality and reliability analysis of migraine Botox treatment information on YouTube.

YouTube (YT) is one of the world's most well recognized video-sharing platforms that appeals to large audiences and is used by individuals to educate themselves on disease diagnosis and treatment alternatives and to distribute health-related information. Videos were searched by typing the terms "migraine botox" and "botox treatment for migraine" on the YT search bar in English. A total of 50 videos were evaluated for each term. Two independent researchers viewed the videos and documented pertinent descriptive attributes of each video, such as the upload date, number of comments, number of dislikes, number of likes, and views. The videos were analyzed and the DISCERN Global Quality Scale (GQS), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) quality, and reliability scores were recorded. A total of 100 videos were assessed. The mean DISCERN score was 3.09, the mean JAMA score was 2.11, and the mean GQS score was 3.25. According to the source, 32% of the videos were uploaded by university/nonprofit physicians or professional organizations. In addition, when the DISCERN, GQS, and JAMA scores of the videos uploaded by health professionals were examined, a statistically significant difference was observed (P = .002, P = .015, and P = .002, respectively). However, no statistically significant relationship was found for the Video Popularity Index score. The reliability and quality scores of the evaluated videos uploaded by healthcare professionals for migraine Botox treatment were high, but the frequency of viewership was low. In our analysis of migraine Botox treatment videos on YT, we observed that the information on migraine Botox treatment had a wide spectrum, high-quality content, and that there were videos that may mislead viewers. In conclusion, we believe that the platform is not sufficient in its entirety, and that it should be supported with renewed, fact-checked, easy-to-understand language, and video-duration optimized videos.

Gender Wealth Gap in the USA’s Afrobeats Scene

The United States has been a space for global musical transnational encounters among African-descended peoples, with various artists collaborating. These collaborations have blossomed with the advent of Afrobeats—a loose term describing the contemporary transatlantic sound of popular African music. Although there are male and female Afrobeats performers on the African continent, this cultural exchange occurs more often between male artists and U.S. musicians. Because male artists are mostly invited for live performances, their visibility puts them in a position to perform with and collaborate with U.S. artists. As a result, male artists get nominations for global awards such as the Grammys and accumulate more wealth. For female artists, the result is less visibility and wealth. Using Tiwa Savage and Burna Boy—two Afrobeats giants—as case studies, this essay examines the factors that limit Tiwa, a female performer, from achieving the same wealth as her male counterpart, Burna Boy. Specifically, this study analyzes the sonic and semiotic representations in their popular music videos, Tiwa’s “Koroba” and Burna Boy’s “On the Low,” to understand why Burna Boy might have the edge over Tiwa. Their music and career trajectories shed light on how capitalism and sociopolitical issues, including colorism, might contribute to the gender wealth disparities between male and female Afrobeats performers.

Measuring the Success of Grandpa Aki’s Short Video Series in Cross-cultural Transmission of Traditional Chinese Culture

With the development of digitization and online platforms, short videos have become one of the ways to spread traditional Chinese culture. The success of Grandpa Aki’s short videos is a model of cross-cultural transmission of traditional Chinese culture, especially craftsmanship, via short videos. However, few scholars have talked about the implications of cross-cultural transmission of Chinese excellent traditional culture brought by Grandpa Aki’s short video series. The paper collected the title of the video, the view of the video and the proportion of positive comments and negative comments from the top 5 popular videos by using Python. The paper aims to identify (1) the characteristics of Grandpa Aki’s short video series; (2) the reasons for the success of Grandpa Aki’s short video series; (3) the implication of cross-cultural transmission of traditional Chinese culture from the success of Grandpa Aki’s short video series. The results show that 1) these videos are characterized by an immersive experience and spread traditional Chinese culture in detail. 2) The reasons for the success of these videos are the strong curiosity about traditional Chinese culture from overseas citizens, the value of traditional Chinese culture, the entertainment value of these videos and the resonance from people. The paper provides a thinking mode for scholars to solve the dilemma of overseas dissemination of traditional Chinese culture.

Marketing Strategies for Financial MCN Institutions in the Era of Integrated Media

The rapid convergence of multiple types of information carriers in the era of integrated media has given rise to the immediate popularity of short-form videos while enhancing the speed and quality of information dissemination, and the Multi-Channel Network (MCN) Institutions behind them have emerged. With the growth of residents' wealth and the increase in demand for investment and financing, MCN institutions focusing on the financial field are attracting more and more attention from the market. Studying the marketing strategies of financial MCN institutions can help improve their business model and is of great significance in promoting the healthy development of investor education. In this paper, we focus on traffic conversion as an essential link in marketing, summarize the common traffic conversion strategies of financial MCN institutions, analyze the case study of JF Wealth Holdings Ltd., and finally provide corresponding strategic suggestions in terms of customer positioning, traffic retention, traffic conversion, and so on.

Exposing video surveillance object forgery by combining TSF features and attention-based deep neural networks

Recently, forensics has encountered a new challenge with video surveillance object forgery. This type of forgery combines the characteristics of popular video copy-move and splicing forgeries, failing most existing video forgery detection schemes. In response to this new forgery challenge, this paper proposes a Video Surveillance Object Forgery Detection (VSOFD) method including three parts components: (i) The proposed method presents a special-combined extraction technique that incorporates Temporal-Spatial-Frequent (TSF) perspectives for TSF feature extraction. Furthermore, TSF features can effectively represent video information and benefit from feature dimension reduction, improving computational efficiency. (ii) The proposed method introduces a universal, extensible attention-based Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) baseline for feature processing. This CNN processing architecture is compatible with various series and parallel feed-forward CNN structures, considering these structures as processing backbones. Therefore, the proposed CNN architecture benefits from various state-of-the-art structures, leading to addressing each independent TSF feature. (iii) The method adopts an encoder-attention-decoder RNN framework for feature classification. By incorporating temporal characteristics, the framework can further identify the correlations between the adjacent frames to classify the forgery frames better. Finally, experimental results show that the proposed network can achieve the best F1 = 94.69 % score, increasing at least 5–12 % from the existing State-Of-The-Art (SOTA) VSOFD schemes and other video forensics.

Evaluation of YouTube as an Information Source for Use of Laser in Root Canal Treatment

Objective: At the present time patients in developed countries widely use online resources to access medical information. YouTube is a widely used website to get knowledge. In the past, medical and dental data were accessed only by doctor and dentist examinations. This research was aimed to assess the quality and quantity of the knowledge content in popular YouTube™ videos about laser root canal treatment (LRCT). Method: Google Trends showed that "laser root canal treatment" was the most searched keyword on the topic. Included videos were assessed as the video's name, universal resource locators, the number of video display, time of adding in website, total numbers of likes, dislikes and comments and total video time. Each video was classed into the 3 groups according to their information source as dentist, commercial, dental clinic. This video was classified according to the quality of information content as ‘good’, ‘poor’, or ‘bad’. In the evaluation of the data, the distribution of variables was examined with the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, the intergroup comparison of variables that did not show a normal distribution was examined with the Kruskal Wallis test. Comparison of subgroups was examined with Dunn's multiple comparison test and comparison of qualitative data was analyzed with Chi-square test. The results were evaluated at the significance level of p

Diet pills and deception: A content analysis of weight-loss, muscle-building, and cleanse and detox supplements videos on TikTok

The promotion of harmful dieting-related products, including weight-loss, muscle-building, and cleanse/detox supplements, is pervasive across TikTok. Use of these products has been associated with eating pathology, and in some instances, increased risk of an eating disorder diagnosis. To inform eating disorders prevention and public health intervention, a content analysis was conducted to analyze the promotional features of the most viewed videos as of June 2022 in the U.S. across popular dieting product-related hashtags (#dietpills, #preworkout, #detox) (N = 233 videos). Investigators watched and coded videos using a codebook that captured details about featured individuals, product claims and details, and other video elements (e.g., language, use of popular music). Descriptive statistics were obtained to analyze trends within and across product hashtags. A total of 78 #dietpills, 86 #preworkout, and 69 #detox videos met study criteria. Videos promoting weight-loss and cleanse/detox products overwhelmingly featured feminine-presenting (70.5 % and 71 %, respectively) and thin (35.9 % and 44.9 %) individuals, while #preworkout video subjects were mostly masculine-presenting (73.3 %) and muscular (61.6 %). Most did not disclose their credentials (93.6 %) nor identify whether the promotion of the product was sponsored by the retailer (95.7 %). The vast majority of videos (97 %) did not provide any scientific evidence to support health- and appearance-related claims. The most popular videos promoting dieting-related supplements on TikTok overwhelmingly make unsubstantiated health claims, posing substantial risks for social media users who are vulnerable to their usage and associated health risks, including engagement in disordered eating.

The Role of Habit and Perceived Usefulness on the Continuance Intention of Subscription Video on Demand Services in Indonesia

In the midst of the rising popularity of Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD), the industry faces significant challenges. The high churn rate and the abundance of competitors in the SVOD industry necessitate that service providers develop strategies to maintain consumer interest. Consumers who significantly contribute to the high churn rate are Generation Y and Generation Z, also known as digital natives. This study aims to analyze how factors within the Expectancy Confirmation Model can influence the Continuance Intention of SVOD users. This descriptive study employs a cross- sectional design. The respondents of this study consist of 159 active SVOD users. The findings reveal that confirmation and individual mobility significantly influence perceived usefulness. Additionally, confirmation, perceived usefulness, and perceived enjoyment significantly affect satisfaction. Furthermore, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, and habit are significant predictors of continuance intention. However, the influence of individual mobility and perceived enjoyment on continuance intention is not significant. Practically, this study provides insights for SVOD service providers to develop marketing strategies that enhance consumer habit and satisfaction. Academically, this study combines two models from previous researchs making the model and variables used more comprehensive in explaining the predictors of continuance intention.

Analysis of YouTube Videos on Circumcision: Evaluating Reliability and Quality for Patients and Parents

Objective: Circumcision is a significant issue for child health and parents, and the reliability and quality of information published on platforms like YouTube can affect patients' access to accurate information. This study aimed to evaluate the quality and reliability of Turkish YouTube videos as a source of information about circumcision. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a search was conducted on YouTube using the keyword "circumcision" on June 1, 2024. After applying exclusion criteria, the 45 most viewed Turkish videos (more than 10,000 views) were included in the study. Videos that were irrelevant, contained advertisements, personal experiences, or were in languages other than Turkish were excluded. The duration, view count, likes, dislikes, number of comments, and upload date of the videos were recorded. The Video Power Index (VPI) was calculated to measure video popularity. Two pediatric surgeons independently assessed the quality and reliability of the videos using the Modified DISCERN (mDISCERN), Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and Global Quality Scale (GQS) scores. Scale scores were compared between groups based on the purpose and publisher of the video using the Mann-Whitney U test. Correlations between video characteristics and scale scores were evaluated with the Spearman correlation coefficient, and inter-observer agreement was assessed with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 39 (86.7%) of the 45 videos were informational, and 6 (13.3%) were surgical. The average length of the videos was 213.5 ± 206 (35 - 1164) seconds. The average duration since the videos were published until June 1, 2024, was 1653 ± 980 (350 - 3985) days. The average view count of the videos was 73,862 ± 114,210 (11,736 – 679,985). The average Video Power Index of the videos was 39.9 ± 40.85 (3.69 - 247.1). The average mDISCERN score was 2.87 ± 1.24, the JAMA score was 2.71 ± 0.7, and the GQS score was 3.38 ± 1.19. According to the GQS scale, 22.3% (n=10) of the 45 videos were of low quality, 33.3% (n=15) were of medium quality, and 44.4% (n=20) were of high quality. All scale scores of informational videos were statistically significantly greater compared to the surgical videos (P=0.008, P=0.041, P=0.024, respectively). Conclusion: YouTube is a significant source of information with the potential to influence the knowledge and behavior of a wide audience regarding circumcision. Patients and their relatives should consider videos uploaded by expert physicians. There is a need for more high-quality educational surgical circumcision videos and short, clear, unbiased, high-quality informational videos addressing controversial issues and containing necessary resources created by expert physicians. This will help increase the accurate knowledge of families about circumcision and consequently reduce unnecessary anxiety and expectations.