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Internet a weapon in anti-smoking drive

Social media could prove a powerful weapon in the fight to lower smoking take-up rates in young people.

Social media could prove a powerful weapon in the fight to lower smoking take-up rates in young people.

Australian researchers believe existing mass-media messages, such as billboards and radio spots, are trapped in the 1980s and are having little impact on the youth market.

Trials are now required to assess the potential of directing the anti-smoking message through online communication forums, they say.

"There is a great deal of peer pressure in schools and the community for young people to smoke," said Kristin Carson, a researcher at Adelaide's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

"Yet in the new forms of social media like Facebook there is a tag that encourages people to declare themselves smoke-free and to say they would not date somebody who smokes.

"That is exactly the opposite of what is happening in school yards, and we know young people are increasingly turning to things like My Space, Facebook and Twitter to communicate with each other."

Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the University of South Australia and Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital are conducting research into the prevention of smoking for young people through mass media.

The group presented its findings at a meeting of Australian and New Zealand researchers in Perth.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Facebook, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Royal Children's Hospital, University of South, University of South Australia

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