Be Careful Who you Tweet With. What are You Picking up from Your Social Network?
A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine says that social networks can play a key role in helping people quit smoking. Last year the same researchers reported that obesity also spread through social networks from person to person, like a virus.
The latest study showed that a smokers decision to quit was highly related to their social networks - including online social networks.
"a person's decision to kick the habit is strongly affected by whether other people in their social network quit -- even people they do not know. And, surprisingly, entire networks of smokers appear to quit virtually simultaneously."
The level of influence that our social networks have over us is possibly more than we had thought, especially online social networks. The power to harness the potential of social networks for positive social change is incredible.
An example of a company who is leveraging the power of virtual social networks is Nike through their running trackers. Research shows that exercising with a partner increases your chances to stick with it, and the Nike running system lets you virtually race and track your progress against other people. I haven't seen any stats on it yet, but I'd bet that the Nike Running participants are getting more exercise than they would if they ran in isolation.
The research referenced above shows that a social network can have a positive (quit smoking) or negative (gain weight) impact.
Who is in your social network, and what are you picking up from them?
The latest study showed that a smokers decision to quit was highly related to their social networks - including online social networks.
"a person's decision to kick the habit is strongly affected by whether other people in their social network quit -- even people they do not know. And, surprisingly, entire networks of smokers appear to quit virtually simultaneously."
The level of influence that our social networks have over us is possibly more than we had thought, especially online social networks. The power to harness the potential of social networks for positive social change is incredible.
An example of a company who is leveraging the power of virtual social networks is Nike through their running trackers. Research shows that exercising with a partner increases your chances to stick with it, and the Nike running system lets you virtually race and track your progress against other people. I haven't seen any stats on it yet, but I'd bet that the Nike Running participants are getting more exercise than they would if they ran in isolation.
The research referenced above shows that a social network can have a positive (quit smoking) or negative (gain weight) impact.
Who is in your social network, and what are you picking up from them?
I suppose social networks are a lot like peer pressure when you are younger, so nothing really changes as we get older.
Posted by: Sire | July 01, 2008 at 03:42 PM