Seidenberg, Andrew B.Pagoto, Sherry L.Vickey, Theodore A.Linos, EleniWehner, Mackenzie R.Dalla Costa, RenataGeller, Alan C.2022-08-232022-08-232016-06-012016-08-16Transl Behav Med. 2016 Jun;6(2):271-6. doi: 10.1007/s13142-016-0388-6. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13142-016-0388-6">Link to article on publisher's site</a>1613-9860 (Linking)10.1007/s13142-016-0388-627356997https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/40022Few surveillance tools exist for monitoring tanning bed injuries. Twitter data were examined to identify and describe reports of tanning bed-caused burns. Tweets sent in 2013 containing keywords for tanning bed use and burning were content analyzed to determine whether a burn caused by a tanning bed was described, and additional data on tanning behavior and burn characteristics were extracted. After content assessment, 15,178 (64 %) tweets were found to describe a tanning bed-caused burn. Sites most reportedly burnt were buttocks (n = 3117), face/head (n = 1020), and chest/breast (n = 546). Alarmingly, 200 burns to the eyes/eyelids were mentioned. A total of 456 tweets described burning > 1 time from a tanning bed. A total of 211 tweets mentioned falling asleep inside the tanning bed. In 2013, over 15,000 tweets reported tanning bed-caused burns. Twitter data provides unique insight into tanning behaviors and injuries not captured through traditional public health surveillance.en-USBurnsSocial mediaSurveillanceTanning bedsBehavior and Behavior MechanismsHealth CommunicationHealth Information TechnologyPublic HealthSocial MediaJournal Articlehttps://escholarship.umassmed.edu/oapubs/28298985345oapubs/2829