Support or competition? How online social networks increase physical activity: A randomized controlled trial
Open accessAbstract
To identify what features of online social networks can increase physical activity, we conducted a 4-arm randomized controlled trial in 2014 in Philadelphia, PA. Students (n = 790, mean age = 25.2) at an university were randomly assigned to one of four conditions composed of either supportive or competitive relationships and either with individual or team incentives for attending exercise classes. The social comparison condition placed participants into 6-person competitive networks with individual incentives. The social support condition placed participants into 6-person teams with team incentives. The combined condition with both supportive and competitive relationships placed participants into 6-person teams, where participants could compare their team's performance to 5 other teams' performances. The control condition only allowed participants to attend classes with individual incentives. Rewards were based on the total number of classes attended by an individual, or the average number of classes attended by the members of a team. The outcome was the number of classes that participants attended. Data were analyzed using multilevel models in 2014. The mean attendance numbers per week were 35.7, 38.5, 20.3, and 16.8 in the social comparison, the combined, the control, and the social support conditions. Attendance numbers were 90% higher in the social comparison and the combined conditions (mean = 1.9, SE = 0.2) in contrast to the two conditions without comparison (mean = 1.0, SE = 0.2) (p = 0.003). Social comparison was more effective for increasing physical activity than social support and its effects did not depend on individual or team incentives.
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Technology-based programs can provide instrumental help in finding healthier alternatives or facilitating supportive social groups.
“While digital technologies may not address environmental factors that constrain an individual’s health environment, technology-based programs can provide instrumental help in finding healthier alternatives or facilitating the creation of supportive social groups [13, 14].”
From A systematic review of artificial intelligence chatbots for promoting physical activity, healthy diet, and weight loss (2021) · cites this paper as [13]
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“Recent games have been developed that exploit motivating social factors (eg, social interactions, social comparison, peer support, competition) and have potential for promoting physical activity in real-world settings such as the worksite.(14) Social interaction features have been identified as a key influence of play…”
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- Authors
- Zhang, J., Brackbill, D., Yang, S., Becker, J., Herbert, N., & Centola, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Centola, Damon
- Venue
- Preventive Medicine Reports
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2016-12
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 453-458
- ISSN
- 2211-3355 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5008041
- OpenAlex
- W2514647000
- Cited by
- 170
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 11.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Preventive Medicine Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (P20CA095856)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports
- Keywords
- social networking sites, physical activity, social comparison, social support, team incentives, individual incentives, university students, social network intervention
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