Online social networks have billions of engaged users throughout the world. If this popularity and appeal can be harnessed, online social networks hold enormous potential for delivering health-promoting programs.
Active Team is an award-winning gamified physical activity app, developed by a team of researchers at the University of South Australia and collaborators, and funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and National Heart Foundation. Designed to be used with friends, users compete in a 100-day lifestyle physical activity challenge, sending and receiving “mini-challenges” from their friends, and unlocking higher status and virtual gifts based on achievements and app engagement. Over 20,000 Australians have downloaded Active Team. The program of research underpinning Active Team was a multi-disciplinary effort, involving health scientists, behavioural scientists, software developers, graphic designers and marketing experts.
This presentation will overview the research underpinning Active Team’s development, evaluation and dissemination, spanning 2013-2019. Successes and failures will be presented, and most importantly, the lessons learned which can inform future research into the use of online social networks for delivering interventions, recruiting research participants using social media advertising, and widely disseminating health messages.