@article {Lazarde112, author = {Allison J Lazard and Gary B Wilcox and Hannah M Tuttle and Elizabeth M Glowacki and Jessica Pikowski}, title = {Public reactions to e-cigarette regulations on Twitter: a text mining analysis}, volume = {26}, number = {e2}, pages = {e112--e116}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053295}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group Ltd}, abstract = {Background In May 2016, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule that deemed e-cigarettes to be within their regulatory authority as a tobacco product. News and opinions about the regulation were shared on social media platforms, such as Twitter, which can play an important role in shaping the public{\textquoteright}s attitudes. We analysed information shared on Twitter for insights into initial public reactions.Methods A text mining approach was used to uncover important topics among reactions to the e-cigarette regulations on Twitter. SAS Text Miner V.12.1 software was used for descriptive text mining to uncover the primary topics from tweets collected from May 1 to May 17 2016 using NUVI software to gather the data.Results A total of nine topics were generated. These topics reveal initial reactions to whether the FDA{\textquoteright}s e-cigarette regulations will benefit or harm public health, how the regulations will impact the emerging e-cigarette market and efforts to share the news. The topics were dominated by negative or mixed reactions.Conclusions In the days following the FDA{\textquoteright}s announcement of the new deeming regulations, the public reaction on Twitter was largely negative. Public health advocates should consider using social media outlets to better communicate the policy{\textquoteright}s intentions, reach and potential impact for public good to create a more balanced conversation.}, issn = {0964-4563}, URL = {https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/26/e2/e112}, eprint = {https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/26/e2/e112.full.pdf}, journal = {Tobacco Control} }