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Tweet for health: using an online social network to examine temporal trends in weight loss-related posts

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Few studies have used social networking sites to track temporal trends in health-related posts, particularly around weight loss. To examine the temporal relationship of Twitter messages about weight loss over 1 year (2012). Temporal trends in #weightloss mentions and #fitness, #diet, and #health tweets which also had the word “weight” in them were examined using three a priori time periods: (1) holidays: pre-winter holidays, holidays, and post-holidays; (2) Season: winter and summer; and (3) New Year’s: pre-New Year’s and post-New Year’s. Regarding #weightloss, there were 145 (95 % CI 79, 211) more posts/day during holidays and 143 (95 % CI 76, 209) more posts/day after holidays as compared to 480 pre-holiday posts/day; 232 (95 % CI 178, 286) more posts/day during the winter versus summer (441 posts/day); there was no difference in posts around New Year’s. Examining social networks for trends in health-related posts may aid in timing interventions when individuals are more likely to be discussing weight loss.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by internal start-up funding to the lead author (GTM). The funders played no role in the design, conduct, or analysis of the study, nor in the interpretation and reporting of the study findings. The researchers were independent from the funders. All authors had full access to all of the data (including statistical reports and tables) in the study and can take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Conflict of interest and adherence to ethical principles statement

GTM and MWB have no conflicts of interest to declare. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Funding source

This study was funded by internal start-up funding to the lead author (GTM).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene St, Room 529, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Gabrielle M. Turner-McGrievy PhD, MS, RD

  2. Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, 921 Assembly St., Room 131, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Michael W. Beets MEd, MPH, PhD

Authors
  1. Gabrielle M. Turner-McGrievy PhD, MS, RD
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  2. Michael W. Beets MEd, MPH, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabrielle M. Turner-McGrievy PhD, MS, RD.

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Implications

Practice: Using online social networks to track mentions of health behaviors may allow for the timing of interventions when discussions around behavior change are high.

Policy: Broader reach for weight loss interventions may be achieved by using social media to understand when to time interventions and by using hashtags to attract users to weight loss programs.

Research: Researchers can monitor social media data to detect when interest in health is high so as to effectively time interventions.

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Cite this article

Turner-McGrievy, G.M., Beets, M.W. Tweet for health: using an online social network to examine temporal trends in weight loss-related posts. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 5, 160–166 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-015-0308-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-015-0308-1

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