People who support smoking are more likely than non-smokers to use social media to support their own beliefs and behaviors, a study finds.
The study stated that pro-smoking campaigners could not support each other offline; therefore, they are moving toward social media to contact each other and set up ties to each other using platforms like Twitter.
Mina Park, an assistant professor at Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, conducted the study, which involved 986 Twitter users and 23,492 following-follower links.
The study found that most of the pro-smoking campaigners, who were mostly individuals without any relations to any groups or organizations, were more closely connected than anti-smoking users or campaigners on Twitter, as their network.
Pro-smoking campaigners connected to each other by dodging the Twitter regulations and using some jargon such as “baccy” or “juice” when they were referring to tobacco and e-cigarettes’ liquid.
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2019.1709924
To cite this article: Mina Park (2020) How Smoking Advocates are Connected Online: An Examination of Online Social Relationships Supporting Smoking Behaviors, Journal of Health Communication, 25:1, 82-90, DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2019.1709924
