You Tube: An International Medium for Sharing Videos about Hookah Smoking

The hookah pipe is an ancient tool for smoking tobacco and is a growing public health concern at the global level. YouTube is a website that allows its members to post videos for people to watch and to share comments about the videos in an online forum. The purpose of the study was to investigate the types of videos about hookah on YouTube, their popularity, and the demographics of those who post and view the videos. YouTube was searched using the terms “hookah” and “shisha.” Two independent reviewers watched each video and created categories based upon content, being Instructional, Review, Trick, Comedy, Commercial, or Health. Popularity was measured by viewer ratings and by the number of times each video was viewed in a 30-day period. Demographic information was obtained from YouTube. Findings suggested that hookah videos are viewed frequently, rated positively, most often feature and are viewed by young males in nearly every nation in the world, meaning, these videos are an international phenomenon and provides evidence of hookah’s growing popularity across the globe. Health professionals should consider creating and posting videos that provide the YouTube audience with evidence-based information about the harmfulness of smoking hookah.