Date post: | 15-Apr-2017 |
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DISC2015
Saying, Searching, and Selling: Electronic Cigarettes on Social Media in China
• Miao Feng, Ph.D. Candidate, Health Media Collaboratory, Institute for Health Research & Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Weiai Xu (Wayne), Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher, Network Science Institute, Northeastern University (Boston) curiositybits.com
Outline:
Why focus on saying, searching and selling?Why study electronic cigarettes in China?What can we learn from the data?Our difficulties
DISC2015
Saying Searching Selling:
WHY FOCUS ON SAYING, SEARCHING AND SELLING?
Awareness
Social media conversations
Information seeking
Search activities on search engine
Adoption
Volume of sales and search on e-
commerce sites
WHY ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES?
Rapid increases in its use and marketing effortsLittle or nothing is known about how electronic cigarettes are marketed and discussed on social media platforms.
Its effect is unknownHealthcare professionals, researchers, tobacco companies and retailers have been debating about the effect of electronic cigarettes on smoking cessation and possible side effects.
A country of smokers53% of men and 2.4% of women, or approximately 300 million adult smokers in China
A major manufacturer and an emergent marketFirst produced and marketed heavily in China, starting in 2004--three years before any similar products or related marketing efforts appeared in the US
WHY ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES IN CHINA?
Saying Searching Selling:
THREE DATA SOURCES
Sina Weibo (Microblogging)
Baidu (Search Engine)
Taobao (E-Commerce)
- Who participated in social media conversations about electronic cigarettes?
- Who played a leading role?
- How did the conversations evolve over time?
- Communication patterns?
KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Conversations mostly driven by average citizens. But, business, government, news media and public figures also chimed in
WHO PARTICIPATED?
Manufacturers and retailers as original content contributors
Peaks reflect the intensity of their marketing efforts
THE ROLE OF BUSINESS
Government accounts as amplifiers
Peaks reflect governments' public health campaigns and tobacco control efforts
THE ROLE OF GOV
News media as original content contributors
Peaks represent government-led public health campaigns
THE ROLE OF MEDIA
Public figures as amplifiers of negative news coverage of electronic cigarettes
THE ROLE OF PUBLIC FIGURES
TAKEAWAY FROM THE STUDY OF SAYING
• Conversations are driven by key events in the development and promotion of electronic cigarettes
• Different users played different roles• Citizens are active but manufacturers and retailers drove the most attention
and action
THE E-CIGAR TREND ON TWITTER
Binns, et al. (2014) A Year of Ecig Promotion on Twitter. (Internal data/poster at HMC)
LESSONS
• Multiple data sources of digital behaviors for a complete modeling of human behavior
• Multiple dimensions: user profiles, content and conversation networks