Drugs on the internet, part III: tobacco and smoking on the web.
This study examines the types of tobacco- and smoking-related websites that are available on the Internet. The search terms used were nicotine, tobacco, and cigarette. These terms were searched in the engines Google and Yahoo as well as video-sharing website YouTube and analyzed based on the search engine results pages (SERPs) that were produced. The results returned the following categories of websites: health information and news, smoking cessation, product ads/sales, history of tobacco and smoking, prosmoking/pleasure, smoking prevention/control, and miscellaneous. Results showed fluctuations in the number of search engine results by search term and date. There also was variable quality and availability of informative resources for Internet users due to lack of quality control criteria and regulation.
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Melissa
M
Morgan
Michael
M
Montagne
D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009538:Nicotine; D011786:Quality Control; D057386:Search Engine; D012907:Smoking; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D064424:Tobacco Use; D014026:Nicotiana
D009538:Nicotine