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Background: This study examined public comments on Twitter about vaping in the days following national news stories of the 'vaping-related illness epidemic.' What began in August 2019 with eight hospitalizations in Wisconsin spiraled into an 'epidemic' linked to at least 12 deaths (Carlisle M. (2019, September 17). Seventh person to die from vaping-related illness in U.S. dies in California. Yahoo! Lifestyle. Available from: ; Haglage A. (2019, September 26). CDC reports 52% increase in vaping-relating illnesses amid shake-up at Juul. Yahoo! Finance. Available from: ; Kaplan, S. & Richtel, M. (2019, September 11). The mysterious vaping illness that's 'becoming an epidemic.' New York Times. Available from: ). Method: A total of 500 tweets were assessed (N = 500) for sentiment, health claims, risks presented, and outrage. Specifically, four categories adapted from [1] were used to categorize risk and outrage. Results: It was found that the sampled tweets were very much against the regulation of vaping and e-cigarettes. More than 36 percent were negative toward regulations and only 2 percent were positive toward regulations. More than 55 percent of the tweets examined contained no risk mentioned at all. The primary area of concern or outrage was related to the potential for regulation, not about the health risk. Conclusions: These results were interesting in that little risk was noted by tweeters as compared to the risks being promoted in mass media. This study is an important contribution to a burgeoning area of research. It also serves a practical function, as the findings can be presented to government organizations as invaluable information regarding audience insights and the development of anti-vaping campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined public comments on Twitter about coronavirus in the weeks after news stories across the globe on the coronavirus outbreak. A total of 600 tweets were assessed (N = 600) for sentiment, risks presented, attribution of blame, and outrage. A sample of 300 tweets was taken from Sunday, February 9, through Wednesday, February 19, 2020, and an additional 300 tweets from Sunday, March 1, through Wednesday, March 11, 2020, to assess how public communication changed over time. Results show that risk, blame, and outrage differed significantly between February and March in a variety of ways. Specifically, more significant risks were noted in February than in March, with the majority of March tweets not noting any specific risks. Although most tweets did not present any specific blame, more blame was presented in February than in March, although more tweets in March attributed blame to countries and governments. Finally, outrage varied in several ways, with hazards generally being higher in February and outrage being higher in March. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]