J Med Internet Res. 2025 Nov 20;27:e76265. doi: 10.2196/76265.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use is prevalent in youth and young adults in the United States. TikTok (ByteDance), a popular social media platform among youth and young adults, has become a key avenue for disseminating e-cigarette-related videos, with promotional videos constituting the predominant form.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify key e-cigarette-related TikTok video features associated with high user engagement to assist with future video design for vaping prevention campaigns.
METHODS: We collected 1487 e-cigarette-related TikTok videos and related metadata posted between January 2023 and January 2024 using the TikTok API (application programming interface). We applied large language models GPT-4 and Video-LLaMA to extract video features (eg, promotion content, background, perceived sex, lifestyle, talking, cartoon, vaping tricks, and containing emojis) from e-cigarette-related TikTok videos. We randomly selected and hand-coded 25 videos to check the accuracy of 2 models in identifying these video features. We used a linear mixed effects model with random intercept to identify significant video features associated with high TikTok user engagement ([likes+shares+comments]/views).
RESULTS: Compared to the Video-LLaMA model, the GPT-4 model exhibited higher accuracy (83%-100% vs 24%-88%) in video feature identification. Notably, video backgrounds in cars (rate ratio [RR]=3.91, 95% CI 1.25-12.20; P=.009) demonstrated significantly higher user engagement than in public spaces. Moreover, videos featuring young adults (RR=1.24, 95% CI 1.00-1.53; P=.048), talking (RR=1.63, 95% CI 1.30-2.05; P<.001), containing emojis (RR=1.88, 95% CI 1.48-2.38; P<.001), or funny and silly content (RR=1.61, 95% CI 1.29-2.00; P<.001) exhibited heightened user engagement. Conversely, videos with promotional content (RR=0.40, 95% CI 0.45-0.81; P=.001) experienced lower engagement.
CONCLUSIONS: TikTok video features like background settings, young adult presence, talking, and containing emojis and funny or silly content substantially enhance user engagement. These insights offer valuable guidance for designing compelling videos in vaping prevention campaigns to improve social media user engagement.
PMID:41264868 | PMC:PMC12634013 | DOI:10.2196/76265