A sedentary lifestyle with less exercise and sports negatively affects people’s health and places increasing pressure on our healthcare system. Hence, it is widely recognised that research into determinants of physical inactivity and sports participation is crucial (see, for example, the National Sports Agreement or the alarming reports of the World Health Organisation).
Current initiatives aimed at promoting an active lifestyle tend to take a person-centred approach, aiming for example at promoting motor skills or self-efficacy. But if these interventions work at all, their positive effects are unfortunately often limited to the short term.
Research in health psychology has shown that lasting changes in health behaviour (e.g. smoking or drinking alcohol) depend on the social environment’s approval of the behaviour, and on whether the healthy behaviour also occurs within the person’s social network. To keep people active in the long run, researchers, professionals and policymakers are therefore increasingly focusing on the influence of social networks.
Online social networks
Online social networks could potentially be an important target for cost-effective interventions that promote sports participation and physical activity. Unfortunately, to date, there is little knowledge about how online sports networks can be used to keep people active.
Online sports apps, such as Zwift and Garmin Connect, have become wildly popular in recent years, among both complete beginners and professionals. These sports apps offer users an easy way to track their sports activities. In addition, these apps connect users thanks to their online networking services. Users can communicate with each other, encourage each other, give kudos, or compete with each other.
We wondered if and how people within these existing online sports networks are influencing each other, and whether our research can contribute to the development of online social network interventions.
Social support and social comparison
We examined influence processes within Strava, the largest and best-known global online sports network. More specifically, we focused on the online Strava networks of five Dutch running clubs. We collected longitudinal data on kudos networks (who gives kudos to whom?) and running activity (how often and how long do members run per week?).
We expected to find that getting kudos (a virtual thumbs up) would motivate runners to stay active. We also expected the activities of other club mates to serve as inspiration. We thought that runners would tend to mimic the running behaviour of these club mates, especially those who ran more often and longer than they themselves did.
Positive and negative social influence
Consistent with our theoretical expectations, we found that runners who got kudos from more club mates were less likely to reduce their weekly running frequency and duration. This is a form of ‘positive influence’. We also saw that the running behaviour of club members who gave each other kudos started to look similar over time.
But unfortunately, and contrary to our expectations, it turned out that runners mostly tended to mimic club mates who ran less and less often. Apparently, less active running buddies communicate that it is OK to do less yourself. This is a form of ‘negative influence’.
The way forward?
Our research shows that focusing on online social networks for policy seeking to promote sustainable sports participation and combat inactivity offers opportunities, but also risks. Getting social support, even if only via a virtual thumbs-up, is motivating. The danger, however, is that online friends will pull each other down rather than lift each other up.
So what do we think a successful online social network intervention might look like? We recommend that community sports coaches and other sports professionals deploy online platforms, allowing participants to record their daily sports and exercise activities. These platforms should highlight more active participants more prominently than less active ones, for example through the use of virtual activity rankings. We expect that this will make it easier for people to follow a good example, and reduce the risk of negative influence. It is also important to make it easy for participants to give each other compliments for their registered activity.
Finally, the platform should make it possible to ‘poke’ inactive participants. So besides kudos, the platform should have social interaction features that allow participants to activate or reactivate their inactive online connections.
We will take follow-up steps to further identify the success factors of these kinds of social network interventions.
This article by Rob Franken, Hidde Bekhuis and Jochem Tolsma previously appeared on Sociale Vraagstukken (Social Issues). They also published a paper on their research: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2022.10.001
Photo: Marc Rafanell López via Unsplash