SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2020
Characteristics of Gun Advertisements on Social Media: Systematic Search and Content Analysis of Twitter and YouTube Posts.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Commercial practices of the arms industry and implications for global public health: a scoping review.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Online Searches for Gun-Related Harm.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- How advocacy groups on Twitter and media coverage can drive US firearm acquisition: A causal study.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Harmful Marketing: An Overlooked Social Determinant of Health.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025Review
- Surveillance of Gun-Related Conversations on Twitter.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2024Article
- Development and Assessment of a Social Media-Based Construct of Firearm Ownership: Computational Derivation and Benchmark Comparison.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Assessing Social Media Data as a Resource for Firearm Research: Analysis of Tweets Pertaining to Firearm Deaths.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- How Internet Contracts Impact Research: Content Analysis of Terms of Service on Consumer Product Websites.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough gun violence has been identified as a major public health concern, the scope and significance of internet gun advertising is not known.
objectiveThis study aimed to quantify the characteristics of gun advertising on social media and to compare the reach of posts by manufacturers with those of influencers.
methodsUsing a systematic search, we created a database of recent and popular Twitter and YouTube posts made public by major firearm manufacturers and influencers. From our sample of social media posts, we reviewed the content of the posts on the basis of 19 different characteristics, such as type of gun, presence of women, and military or police references. Our content analysis summarized statistical differences in the information conveyed in posts to compare advertising approaches across social media platforms.
resultsSample posts revealed that firearm manufacturers use social media to attract audiences to websites that sell firearms: 14.1% (131/928; ±2.9) of Twitter posts, 53.6% (228/425; ±6.2) of YouTube videos, and 89.5% (214/239; ±5.1) of YouTube influencer videos link to websites that facilitate sales. Advertisements included women in efforts to market handguns and pistols for the purpose of protection: videos with women included protection themes 2.5 times more often than videos without women. Top manufacturers of domestic firearms received 98 million channel views, compared with 6.1 billion channel views received by the top 12 YouTube influencers.
conclusionsFirearm companies use social media as an advertising platform to connect viewers to websites that sell guns. Gun manufacturers appropriate YouTube servers, video streaming services, and the work of YouTube influencers to reach large audiences to promote the widespread sale of consumer firearms. YouTube and Twitter subsidize gun advertising by offering server and streaming services at no cost to gun manufacturers, to the commercial benefit of Google and Twitter's corporate ownership.
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Registered trials
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