Vaping on YouTube - expect trouble!

Here is a nice link to a "scientific" study, that I predict forecasts TROUBLE for vapers. It will be followed by other studies as soon as the funding is found. Tobacco Control will see that it is.

How will it be used? There will be a flurry of anti-vaping videos promoted on YouTube.  Hundreds of them! In every language. Pushing fear. Tobacco Control will make sure of that.  They have the money. Already, the promotion of electronic cigarettes to the public in the Media will be controlled by new European legislation coming in.

And YouTube might not be exempt. YouTube will conceivably be forced to comply by blocking the new illegal videos or pod casts or broadcasts etc. Who knows?

And I am extra interested because of MY channel "Vaping for the over sixties" which promotes vaping, obviously. THIS little old lady will be exceptionally pissed off if she ever gets picked up by the radar.

 Quote - "This study presents the first surveillance studies of the portrayal of e-cigarettes on YouTube. The results presented in our study highlight the extent of “pro” e-cigarette content on YouTube. It is critical to develop appropriate health campaigns to inform e-cigarette consumers of potential harms associated with e-cigarette use. Further research is needed to evaluate the influence of e-cigarette messages in YouTube videos on people."end quote

If you are interested do read the whole study, or just whizz through the summary..... note - the people doing this study never used the search term "vaping" but used "smoking" - shows what ignoramuses they are. I'm sure the study results would have shocked them even more had they done so!

Here is a summary.... and the last paragraph is key.

Portrayal of electronic cigarettes on YouTube

Background
As the most popular video sharing website in the world, YouTube has the potential to reach and influence a huge audience. This study aims to gain a systematic understanding of what e-cigarette messages people are being exposed to on YouTube by assessing the quantity, portrayal and reach of e-cigarette videos.
Methods
Researchers identified the top 20 search results on YouTube by relevance and view count for the following search terms: “electronic cigarettes”, “e-cigarettes”, “ecigarettes”, “ecigs”, “smoking electronic cigarettes”, “smoking e-cigarettes”, “smoking ecigarettes”, “smoking ecigs”. A sample of 196 unique videos was coded for overall portrayal and genre. Main topics covered in e-cigarette videos were recorded and video statistics and viewer demographic information were documented.
Results
Among the 196 unique videos, 94% (n = 185) were “pro” to e-cigarettes and 4% (n = 8) were neutral, while there were only 2% (n = 3) that were “anti” to e-cigarettes. The top 3 most prevalent genres of videos were advertisement, user sharing and product review. 84.3% of “pro” videos contained Web links for e-cigarette purchase. 71.4% of “pro” videos claimed that e-cigarettes were healthier than conventional cigarettes. Audience was primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada and “pro” e-cigarette videos were watched more frequently and rated much more favorably than “anti” ones.
Conclusions
The vast majority of information on YouTube about e-cigarettes promoted their use and depicted the use of e-cigarettes as socially acceptable. It is critical to develop appropriate health campaigns to inform e-cigarette consumers of potential harms associated with e-cigarette use.