New Media & Communication Project

1. Weight Watchers Facebook
Community
By: Kaitlyn Ward

2. What’s the Point?
• People in today’s society should use Weight
Watcher’s Facebook page for support and
recipes if they are trying to lose weight.

3. Reasons For Doing This Particular
Study
• The Weight Watchers Facebook page provides
support, recipes, and real-life stories.
• Users of Weight Watchers can feel a sense of
belongingness when they use this Facebook
page.
• Feeling comfortable with a great support group
is a key to success when losing weight.

4. Positive and Negative Correlation from
the Facebook Page
• “The Internet has both a direct positive relationship to subjective health, as
well as an indirect positive relationship, mediated through social support”
(Ballantine & Stephenson, 2011).
• There is a positive correlation between weight loss and the Weight
Watchers Facebook page by allowing online support.
• 1. The page will continue to grow as people see how convenient
and successful this support system is.
• 2. With the page growing, the Weight Watchers program will
continue to successfully grow.
• “Due to the sensitivity often associated with health-related issues, strong
ties were found to act as a barrier to gaining social support” (Ballantine &
Stephenson, 2011).

5. What Will the Weight Watchers
Facebook Community Do?
• Weight Watchers Facebook community will lead people to a
healthier lifestyle.
• Users of this lifestyle change program will have the ultimate
support available to them from their home.
– Example: If a client misses their weekly appointment at a
Weight Watchers location, they can simply log-on to
Facebook and find support there.
• Weight Watchers users will have more than just a Facebook
page helping them live a healthy lifestyle.
• They meet new friends with common interests.
• They have people that can keep them in check.
• If the users have any questions, the page is available
24/7.

6. Has this Facebook Page stayed the
same or increased in popularity?
• Looking at the dates of June 1st through June
7th each year from 2011 to 2014, the amount
of support is increasing.

7. Trends
• In 2011, the site was not being used as a major support group.
• Posts were not made daily.
• People did not comment on the posts frequently.
• In 2012, the site still was not being used to its fullest potential.
• Users have not increased their activity.
• People still did not comment on posts frequently.
• In 2013, the site started becoming more active.
• Users increased their activity, and started commenting on more
posts.
• There were more posts to comment on, and recipes started making
regular appearances.
• In 2014, the site started booming.
• Users commented on posts and even made suggestions for recipes.
• People started sharing their success stories, and posted before and
after pictures.

8. Cons of the Facebook Community
• This Weight Watchers Facebook Community may not
be for everyone.
• The older generation that may not be as equipped
with today’s technology; therefore, they would prefer
to attend local meetings.
• Facebook can be confusing, and people may not
understand it.
• Some Weight Watchers clients may believe that using
the Facebook support system could be too
impersonal.

9. How or to what extent does community exist
through Weight Watchers Facebook
page?
• The community itself is a support system.
• The extent of the community is anyone on the
friends list of this community page. Anyone
within this community can post words of
encouragement, recipes, etc.
• Friendships may be formed through this
community, and may be continued in the real
world.

10. Sharing support is very important, but does
this community share recipes and other
facts that will keep users satisfied and
happy?
• Healthy recipes are shared many days throughout the
week.
• Words of encouragement are posted on the page by
representatives running the Facebook page as well as
friends of the community.
• Progress is shared by the community to keep others
motivated in their time of need.

11. What is this social media community doing in
order to keep followers and users
motivated?
• The Weight Watchers Facebook community is
maintaining a positive reputation.
• Representatives of Weight Watchers and the
community post words of encouragement,
pictures, progress, recipes, etc. on the page.
• People remain motivated by seeing the
progress of others posted on the page.
– Example: Before and after pictures of weight loss
due to Weight Watchers.

12. Has the activity of this Facebook page increased over
the past four years? If so, how?
• Yes. The activity has increased significantly. As seen earlier:
• In 2011, the site was not being used as a major support group.
• Posts were not made daily.
• People did not comment on the posts frequently.
• In 2012, the site still was not being used to its fullest potential.
• Users have not increased their activity.
• People still did not comment on posts frequently.
• In 2013, the site started becoming more active.
• Users increased their activity, and started commenting on more
posts.
• There were more posts to comment on, and recipes started making
regular appearances.
• In 2014, the site started booming.
• Users commented on posts and even made suggestions for recipes.
• People started sharing their success stories, and posted before and
after pictures.

13. Over time has this community effected
the social media population in a
positive way?
• Yes. As shown earlier in this presentation, over the
past four years the activity has increased
significantly.
• People have been more active in this community by
posting on the page.
• The representatives of this page post more frequently.
• People are so comfortable and happy with this
Facebook community that they take it upon
themselves to post their before and after pictures, and
their progress along the way.

14. Cons of Using the Weight Watchers
Program and What They Don’t Tell You
On the Facebook Page
• The Weight Watchers Facebook community is all
about support. Therefore, one will not see much
about the negative aspects of weight watchers.
• According to the Livestrong website, Weight
Watchers users can develop vitamin deficiency,
undernourishment, and may even be taking in too
much sodium daily.

15. Other Input for Online
Support
• According to the BMJ article, there is more
evidence of using support groups via social
networking and other online options. Health
related issues are predominately discussed in
this article, and how the peer support groups
affect these issues.

16. Testimony
• This weight watchers client (Sohn) expresses
how helpful the Weight Watchers community
on Facebook was for him. He used a closed
Facebook group to obtain support from others
who were going through the same weight loss
challenge, or who have already met their goal.

17. Annotated Bibliography
• Aufiero, B. (2011, March 8). The dangers of Weight Watchers. Livestrong.
Retrieved July 30, 2014, from
http://www.livestrong.com/article/337442-the-dangers-of-weight-watchers/
• Ballantine, P., & Stephenson, R. Help me, I'm fat! Social support in online
weight loss networks. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 10, 332-337. Retrieved
July 23, 2014, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cb.374/full
• Eysenbach, G., Powell, J., Englesakis, M., Rizo, C., & Stern, A. Health related
virtual communities and electronic support groups: systematic review of the
effects of online peer to peer interactions. BMJ, 328. Retrieved July 23, 2014,
from http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7449/1166?ct
• Sohn, T. (2013, September 3). How a closed Facebook group & Weight
Watchers helped me lose 94.6 pounds. Social Times. Retrieved July 23, 2014,
from
https://socialtimes.com/how-a-closed-facebook-group-weight-watchers-helped-me-lose