Quit with Facebook
December 21, 2012
A NEW ‘evidence-based’
Facebook app has launched to help
smokers quit.
The app, UbiQUITous, is part of a
3-year project, funded by the US
National Institutes of Health and
The Schroeder Institute at Legacy,
and is currently the only evidencebased
app on Facebook dedicated
to helping users quit smoking.
“Instead of encouraging smokers
to join networks of other quitters,
UbiQUITous helps smokers build a
support network out of their own
friends and family on Facebook,”
said Dr. Nathan Cobb, lead
researcher and developer of the app.
“This Facebook-based study is
unique in how it will help public
health researchers understand how
a quitting smoking tool 'goes viral'
through clusters of smokers online,
and what conditions make a public
health intervention most likely to
spread between individuals,” Cobb
added.
The app works by using the
smoker's social network to help
them quit smoking by posting their
daily quit progress to their
Facebook timeline, and directly
notifying supporters on big quit
milestones (like the day they quit
smoking, or when they hit one
week smoke-free).
In addition UbiQUITous also
provides tailored information on
quitting, integrated social support,
and proactive contact to users.
Users will receive awards for
reaching quit milestones, and have
access to tracking mechanisms that
show how much money they save
by quitting and their continuous
quitting progress.
See http://apps.facebook.com/
quitlab for details.
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