Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Nov 19;20(11):e11669.
doi: 10.2196/11669.

Hookah-Related Posts to Twitter From 2017 to 2018: Thematic Analysis

Jon-Patrick Allem  1 , Likhit Dharmapuri  2 , Adam M Leventhal  1 , Jennifer B Unger  1 , Tess Boley Cruz  1
Affiliations

Hookah-Related Posts to Twitter From 2017 to 2018: Thematic Analysis

Jon-Patrick Allem et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Hookah (or tobacco waterpipe) use has recently become prevalent in the United States. The contexts and experiences associated with hookah use are unclear, yet such information is abundant via publicly available hookah users' social media postings.

Objective: In this study, we utilized Twitter data to characterize Twitter users' recent experiences with hookah.

Methods: Twitter posts containing the term "hookah" were obtained from April 1, 2017 to 29 March, 2018. Text classifiers were used to identify clusters of topics that tended to co-occur in posts (n=176,706).

Results: The most prevalent topic cluster was Person Tagging (use of @username to tag another Twitter account in a post) at 21.58% (38,137/176,706) followed by Promotional or Social Events (eg, mentions of ladies' nights, parties, etc) at 20.20% (35,701/176,706) and Appeal or Abuse Liability (eg, craving, enjoying hookah) at 18.12% (32,013/176,706). Additional topics included Hookah Use Behavior (eg, mentions of taking a "hit" of hookah) at 11.67% (20,603/176,706), Polysubstance Use (eg, hookah use along with other substances) at 10.95% (19,353/176,706), Buying or Selling (eg, buy, order, purchase, sell) at 9.37% (16,552/176,706), and Flavors (eg, mint, cinnamon, watermelon) at 1.66% (2927/176,706). The topic Dislike of Hookah (eg, hate, quit, dislike) was rare at 0.59% (1043/176,706).

Conclusions: Social events, appeal or abuse liability, flavors, and polysubstance use were the common contexts and experiences associated with Twitter discussions about hookah in 2017-2018. Considered in concert with traditional data sources about hookah, these results suggest that social events, appeal or abuse liability, flavors, and polysubstance use warrant consideration as targets in future surveillance, policy making, and interventions addressing hookah.

Keywords: Twitter; flavors; hookah; infodemiology; nicotine; social media; social smoking; waterpipe.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of topics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Salloum RG, Asfar T, Maziak W. Toward a Regulatory Framework for the Waterpipe. Am J Public Health. 2016 Dec;106(10):1773–7. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2016.303322. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allem JP, Unger JB. Emerging adulthood themes and hookah use among college students in Southern California. Addict Behav. 2016 Dec;61:16–9. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.05.002. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/27208879 S0306-4603(16)30174-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. El-Zaatari ZM, Chami HA, Zaatari GS. Health effects associated with waterpipe smoking. Tob Control. 2015 Mar;24 Suppl 1:i31–i43. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051908. http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=25661414 tobaccocontrol-2014-051908 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Maziak W. The global epidemic of waterpipe smoking. Addict Behav. 2011;36(1-2):1–5. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.08.030. http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/20888700 S0306-4603(10)00266-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mohammed KA, Geneus CJ, Yadgir S, Subramaniam DS, Burroughs TE. Correlates of Hookah Pipe Awareness and Perceived Harmfulness Among U.S. Adults. Am J Prev Med. 2017 Apr;52(4):513–518. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2016.10.032.S0749-3797(16)30566-9 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types