Can Social Media Help People Lose Weight?
Sharing the triumphs and tribulations of your weight loss journey with other members of an online virtual support community plays an important role in achieving success, according to a new study from the University of California, Irvine. Entitled “Weight Loss Through Virtual Support Communities: A Role for Identity-based Motivation in Public Commitment,” the study examines the role of virtual communities and public commitment in setting and reaching weight loss goals.
“Our research finds that individuals are more likely to realize success with personal goals when they make a public commitment to attaining them,” said Tonya Williams Bradford, study co-author and assistant professor of marketing at UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business. “By sharing success and setbacks in virtual support communities on social media, we found people are achieving better results. This works especially well with goals like weight loss, where before and after images can be shared online with other community members.”
Excerpted from ScienceDaily
