With the impending launch of NCPAD's 2011 14-Week Program to a Healthier You, we have been delving into research on the use of the Internet and social media for health behavior change in order to apply some exciting new changes to this year's program. I reviewed an article in my January 2011 column that described the effects of providing opportunities for social support and community-building on attrition rates in an Internet-mediated walking program (Richardson et al., 2010). Kamal, Fels, & Ho (2010) discussed how best to design an online social networking system in order to influence health behavior.
To read this article, please go to: http://www.ncpad.org/research/fact_sheet.php?sheet=877.