When combined with guided interventions, the social networking site Twitter can be a powerful tool for promoting weight loss, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of South Carolina and published in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine.
The researchers found that participants who used Twitter more regularly to provide information and support to one another during the course of a weight loss program lost significantly more weight than participants who used the site less frequently.
Prior research has examined how people use social networking sites to discuss health-related topics, but few studies have examined how such sites could be used in behavioral weight loss interventions.
In the new study, researchers began by following 96 overweight and obese adults who lived in a metropolitan area over the course of six months. All participants owned an Internet-capable mobile device (either an Android-based phone, a BlackBerry, an iPhone or an iPod Touch), which they use to listen to two 15-minute podcasts per week for the first three months of the study and to two five-minute podcasts per week for the last three months. The podcasts featured information on exercise and nutrition, goal setting for weight loss, and an audio soap opera.
Some of the participants were also assigned to download an app onto their mobile devices to help them monitor their diet and physical activity, and a Twitter app, which they were asked to use each day to read and post messages for their weight loss counselor and their fellow participants. They also received two Twitter posts per day from the counselor, encouraging participant discussion and reminding participants of information from the podcasts.
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