Someone is tracking how much you 'vape' on Twitter

The next time you send a tweet about electronic cigarettes, you might unwittingly be taking part in a clinical study examining what Americans are saying online about vaping.

Researchers at New York University's School of Medicine recently analyzed 28 million tweets containing hashtags like #vape, #ecigs and #ejuice to build a monitoring tool that tracks who is commenting about e-cigarettes and what they're saying.

By identifying the language associated with e-cigs on Twitter, the researchers hope to better understand who is using them to quit smoking, who is using them for other reasons, and how and to whom they're being marketed.

This kind of social media surveillance could have implications for drafting new health policies and interventions associated with e-cigarettes.

"We wanted to see what age group is using them and how," said Paul Krebs, a clinical psychologist at the school.