Measuring Interactivity on Tobacco Control Websites

Abstract

With the increased reach of Web 2.0, Internet users expect webpages to be interactive. No studies have been conducted to assess whether tobacco control–relevant sites have implemented these features. The authors conducted an analysis of an international sample of tobacco control–relevant websites to determine their level of interactivity. The sample included 68 unique websites selected from Google searches in 5 countries, on each country's Google site, using the term smoking. The 68 sites were analyzed for 10 categories of interactive tools. The most common type of interactive content found on 46 (68%) of sites was for multimedia featuring content that was not primarily text based, such as photo galleries, videos, or podcasts. Only 11 (16%) websites—outside of media sites—allowed people to interact and engage with the site owners and other users by allowing posting comments on content and/or hosting forums/discussions. Linkages to social networking sites were low: 17 pages (25%) linked to Twitter, 15 (22%) to Facebook, and 11 (16%) to YouTube. Interactivity and connectedness to online social media appears to still be in its infancy among tobacco control–relevant sites.

Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the Google search volunteers, Dr. Stella Aguinaga-Bialous (United States), Dr. Janine Paynter (New Zealand), Ms. Diane Kunyk (Canada), Ms. Cecilia Farren (United Kingdom), and Mr. Ross MacKenzie (Australia).

This article was supported by Grant 570869, funded by The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia, on the use of Web 2.0 Internet sites to undermine tobacco advertising bans and to mobilize tobacco control advocates.