@article {Chu575, author = {Kar-Hai Chu and Jon-Patrick Allem and Tess Boley Cruz and Jennifer B Unger}, title = {Vaping on Instagram: cloud chasing, hand checks and product placement}, volume = {26}, number = {5}, pages = {575--578}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053052}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group Ltd}, abstract = {Introduction This study documented images posted on Instagram of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarette) and vaping (activity associated with e-cigarette use). Although e-cigarettes have been studied on Twitter, few studies have focused on Instagram, despite having 500 million users. Instagram{\textquoteright}s emphasis on images warranted investigation of e-cigarettes, as past tobacco industry strategies demonstrated that images could be used to mislead in advertisements, or normalise tobacco-related behaviours. Findings should prove informative to tobacco control policies in the future.Methods 3 months of publicly available data were collected from Instagram, including images and associated metadata (n=2208). Themes of images were classified as (1) activity, for example, a person blowing vapour; (2) product, for example, a personal photo of an e-cigarette device; (3) advertisement; (4) text, for example, {\textquoteleft}meme{\textquoteright} or image containing mostly text and (5) other. User endorsement (likes) of each type of image was recorded. Caption text was analysed to explore different trends in vaping and e-cigarette-related text.Results Analyses found that advertisement-themed images were most common (29\%), followed by product (28\%), and activity (18\%). Likes were more likely to accompany activity and product-themed images compared with advertisement or text-themed images (p\<0.01). Vaping-related text greatly outnumbered e-cigarette-related text in the image captions.Conclusions Instagram affords its users the ability to post images of e-cigarette-related behaviours and gives advertisers the opportunity to display their product. Future research should incorporate novel data streams to improve public health surveillance, survey development and educational campaigns.}, issn = {0964-4563}, URL = {https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/26/5/575}, eprint = {https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/26/5/575.full.pdf}, journal = {Tobacco Control} }