A Content Analysis of Alcohol Content Delivered via TikTok's Search Function for Alcohol-Related Terms.

Abstract

Background: Media alcohol exposure is a modifiable environmental risk factor for adolescent drinking behavior. Shifts in teen media use have made social media engagement nearly ubiquitous among this population. TikTok, a short video-sharing social media platform, is the fastest growing platform among teens. 98% of the most viewed videos tagged "#alcohol" on TikTok portray alcohol positively. TikTok also offers a search function that provides algorithmically identified "Top Videos", for which alcohol-related content has yet to be characterized. Alcohol-naïve and curious youth may be more susceptible to encountering content this way.

Methodology: A Python script utilizing a newly created account was used to download the 100 "Top Videos" for five alcohol-related search terms: #alcohol, #beer, #wine, #vodka, #tequila. Videos were qualitatively coded for context, setting, and positive/negative sentiment of alcohol depiction. 20% of videos were double-coded with a total percent agreement of 95.8% (Cohen's κ = .81).

Results: For terms related to specific alcohol types (e.g., #beer), videos were overwhelmingly alcohol-positive (96.9%), rarely depicted alcohol problems, and frequently were humorous and depicted alcohol recipes and games. For the "#alcohol" search term, nearly half of videos (41.8%) were identified as being alcohol-negative and more often depicted alcohol problems and dependence.

Conclusions: In contrast with the most viewed videos on TikTok for "#alcohol," videos returned via the search function included significantly more alcohol-negative content. Content returned by all other search terms remained alcohol-positive. Understanding content delivery algorithms may be a beneficial route for mitigating risk of alcohol exposure on digital/social media platforms.