Tweet2Quit Smoking

Want to quit smoking or want someone close to quitting it? Board on Twitter.

A study published in the online journal Tobacco Control says that Social Media "has potential" to spur and reinforce healthy behaviors, like quit smoking, exercise, weight loss, and quitting other drugs.

Researchers from UCI and Stanford developed a Twitter-based smoking cessation program called Tweet2Quit and conducted an extensive 100-day study in which they followed two separate 'Tweet2Quit' groups of 20.

The study found that people who participated in the Twitter program were twice as likely to have abstained from smoking two months after quitting, compared with people who just used nicotine patches and visited the federal government's website designed to help people quit smoking.

UC Irvine marketing professor Connie Pechmann, lead author of the study feels that Twitter can prove very useful in getting people to quit but also cautions that research on how to successfully use social media is still developing, "The Twitter environment created a sort of party dynamic...That's especially important for social smokers. In addition, group leaders naturally emerged, facilitating the online conversations. These leaders played a critical role in keeping people engaged."

Some examples of what members tweeted to other members of the group are like: "I'm a mom of 4, just got married a month ago." or “My goal after quitting in playing in a local tennis tournament and hope I make it past the first round.”

According to Pechmann, several factors separate Tweet2Quit from other social media-based health interventions. For one, the 20 participants in the study were interacting with a closed group: They opened Twitter accounts solely for this research project, and they only followed and were followed by, other participants.

The other two key elements of Tweet2Quit were:

• Every night, the participants received messages with questions, developed by the research team, that were intended to spur discussions among the participants.
• Every morning, they received individualized messages, which praised people for tweeting and encouraged others to join the discussions.

The study proves that convenience and its ability to spark connection and communication make social networking site effective in such programs.

She recalls that when participants craved a cigarette, they would tweet the group and say, "I want to smoke. Help me out!" She says someone would quickly jump in and say, "don't do it!"

"I think it worked because it fit their lifestyles," she says. And because participants connected online, Pechmann says they often forged bonds – and gained moral support – from people they might not have befriended in person.

Another benefit of doing health interventions through social media, the study says, is that it can bring a level of anonymity to something that is stigmatized in some communities – like getting tested for HIV.

"If people don't want to talk about something, they want to avoid face-to-face contact;technologies like social media can make it much easier for them to seek help."