skip to main content
10.1145/3025453.3025654acmconferencesArticle/Chapter ViewAbstractPublication PageschiConference Proceedingsconference-collections
research-article

When Fitness Meets Social Networks: Investigating Fitness Tracking and Social Practices on WeRun

Authors Info & Claims
Published:02 May 2017Publication History

ABSTRACT

The last two decades have seen growing interest in promoting physical activities by using self-tracking technologies. Previous work has identified social interactions in self-tracking as a crucial factor in motivating users to exercise. However, it is unclear how integrating fitness features into complex pre-existing social network affects users' fitness tracking practices and social interactions. In this research, we address this gap through a qualitative study of 32 users of WeRun--a fitness plugin of the widely adopted Chinese mobile social networking service WeChat. Our findings indicate that sharing fitness data with pre-existing social networks motivates users to continue self-tracking and enhances their existing social relationships. Nevertheless, users' concerns about their online personal images lead to challenges around privacy. We discuss how our study could advance understanding of the effects of fitness applications built on top of pre-existing social networks. We present implications for future social fitness applications design.

References

  1. Aino Ahtinen, Pertti Huuskonen, and Jonna Häkkilä. 2010. Let's All Get Up and Walk to the North Pole: Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Wellness Application. In Proc. of NordiCHI 2010, 3--12. https://doi.org/10.1145/1868914.1868920Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  2. Aino Ahtinen, Minna Isomursu, Muzayun Mukhtar, Jani Mäntyjärvi, Jonna Häkkilä, and Jan Blom. 2009. Designing social features for mobile and ubiquitous wellness applications. Proc. of the 8th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia: 1--10. https://doi.org/10.1145/1658550.1658562Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. Noor Ali-hasan. 2006. Fitster: Social Fitness Information Visualizer. In Proc. of CHI EA 2006, 1795--1800. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. Ian Anderson, Julie Maitland, Scott Sherwood, Louise Barkhuus, Matthew Chalmers, Malcolm Hall, Barry Brown, and Henk Muller. 2007. Shakra: Tracking and Sharing Daily Activity Levels with Unaugmented Mobile Phones. Mobile Networks and Applications 12, 2-3: 185--199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11036-007-0011-7Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. Erman Ayday, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Jean-Pierre Hubaux, and Gene Tsudik. 201 Whole Genome Sequencing: Revolutionary Medicine or Privacy Nightmare Computer 48, 2: 58--66. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2015.59Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  6. Amid Ayobi, Paul Marshall, and Anna L. Cox. 201 Reflections on 5 Years of Personal Informatics: Rising Concerns and Emerging Directions. In Proc. of CHI EA 2016, 2774--2781. https://doi.org/10.1145/2851581.2892406Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  7. Elizabeth Bales, Kevin A. Li, and William Griwsold. 2011. CoupleVIBE: Mobile Implicit Communication to Improve Awareness for (Long-Distance) Couples. In Proc. of CSCW 2011, 65--74. https://doi.org/10.1145/1958824.1958835Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  8. Roy F. Baumeister. 1989. Motives and costs of self-presentation in organizations. In Impression Management in the Organization, Robert A. Giacalone and Paul Rosenfeld (eds.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Hillsdale, NJ, 57--71.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  9. BI Intelligence. 2016. WeChat breaks 700 million monthly active users. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/wechat-breaks-700-million-monthly-active-users-2016-4Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  10. Taj Campbell, Brian Ngo, and James Fogarty. 2008. Game Design Principles in Everyday Fitness Applications. In Proc. of CSCW 2008, 249--252. https://doi.org/1145/1460563.1460603Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  11. Yu Chen and Pearl Pu. 2014. HealthyTogether: Exploring Social Incentives for Mobile Fitness Applications. In Proc. of Chinese CHI 2014, 25--34. https://doi.org/10.1145/2592235.2592240Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  12. Yunan Chen, Jing Wen, and Bo Xie. 20 "I communicate with my children in the game": Mediated Intergenerational Family Relationships through a Social Networking Game. The Journal of Community Informatics 8, 1.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  13. James Clawson, J. Pater, A. Miller, E. Mynatt, and Lena Mamykina. 2015. No Longer Wearing: Investigating the Abandonment of Personal Health-Tracking Technologies on Craigslist. In Proc. of UbiComp 2015, 647--658. https://doi.org/10.1145/2750858.2807554Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  14. Sunny Consolvo, Katherine Everitt, Ian Smith, and James A. Landay. 2006. Design Requirements for Technologies that Encourage Physical Activity. In Proc. of CHI 2006, 457--466. https://doi.org/10.1145/1124772.1124840Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  15. Juliet Corbin and Anselm Strauss. 20 Basics of Qualitative Research Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. SAGE Publications, Inc.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  16. N. B. Ellison, C. Steinfield, and C. Lampe. 2011. Connection strategies: Social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media & Society 13, 6: 873--892. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810385389 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  17. Daniel A. Epstein, Alan Borning, and James Fogarty. 2013. Fine-Grained Sharing of Sensed Physical Activity: A Value Sensitive Approach. In Proc. of Ubicomp 2013, 489--498. https://doi.org/10.1145/2493432.2493433Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  18. Daniel A. Epstein, Monica Caraway, Chuck Johnston, An Ping, James Fogarty, and Sean A. Munson. 2016. Beyond Abandonment to Next Steps: Understanding and Designing for Life After Personal Informatics Tool Use. In Proc. of CHI 2016, 1109--1113. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858045Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  19. Daniel A. Epstein, Bradley H. Jacobson, Elizabeth Bales, David W. McDonald, and Sean A. Munson. 2015. From "nobody cares" to "way to go!": A Design Framework for Social Sharing in Personal Informatics. In Proc. of CSCW 2015, 1622--1636. https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675135Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  20. Thomas Fritz, Elaine M. Huang, Gail C. Murphy, and Thomas Zimmermann. 2014. Persuasive Technology in the Real World: A Study of Long-Term Use of Activity Sensing Devices for Fitness. In Proc. of CHI 2014, 487--496. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557383Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  21. Geri Gay. 2009. Context-Aware Mobile Computing: Affordances of Space, Social Awareness, and Social Influence. Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered Informatics 2, 1: 1--62. https://doi.org/10.2200/S00135ED1V01Y200905HCI004Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  22. Nanna Gorm and Irina Shklovski. 2016. Sharing Steps in the Workplace: Changing Privacy Concerns Over Time. In Proc. of CHI 2016, 4315--4319. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858352Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  23. Daniel Harrison, Paul Marshall, Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze, and Jon Bird. 2015. Activity Tracking: Barriers, Workarounds and Customisation. In Proc. of UbiComp 2015, 617--621. https://doi.org/10.1145/2750858.2805832Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  24. Logan Kendall, Andrea Hartzler, Predrag Klasnja, and Wanda Pratt. 2011. Descriptive Analysis of Physical Activity Conversations on Twitter. In Proc. of CHI EA 2011, 1555--1560. https://doi.org/10.1145/1979742.1979807Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  25. Predrag Klasnja, Sunny Consolvo, Tanzeem Choudhury, Richard Beckwith, and Jeffrey Hightower. 2009. Exploring Privacy Concerns about Personal Sensing. In Proc. of Pervasive 2009, 176--183. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01516-8_13Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  26. Predrag Klasnja, Sunny Consolvo, David W. McDonald, James a. Landay, and Wanda Pratt. 2009. Using Mobile & Personal Sensing Technologies to Support Health Behavior Change in Everyday Life: Lessons Learned. In Proc. of AMIA 2009 Symposium, 338--342.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  27. Amanda Lazar, Christian Koehler, Joshua Tanenbaum, and David H. Nguyen. 2015. Why We Use and Abandon Smart Devices. In Proc. of UbiComp 2015, 635--646. https://doi.org/10.1145/2750858.2804288Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  28. Ian Li, Anind Dey, and Jodi Forlizzi. 2010. A Stage-Based Model of Personal Informatics Systems. In Proc. of CHI 2010, 557--566. https://doi.org/10.1145/1753326.1753409Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  29. Ian Li, Anind K. Dey, and Jodi Forlizzi. 2011. Understanding My Data, Myself: Supporting Self-Reflection with Ubicomp Technologies. In Proc. of Ubicomp 2011, 405. https://doi.org/10.1145/2030112.2030166Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  30. James J. Lin, Lena Mamykina, Silvia Lindtner, Gregory Delajoux, and Henry B. Strub. 2006. Fish'n'Steps: Encouraging Physical Activity with an Interactive Computer Game. In Proc. of UbiComp 2006, 261--278. https://doi.org/10.1007/11853565_16Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  31. Deborah Lupton. 2014. Self-tracking cultures: towards a sociology of personal informatics. In Proc. of OZCHI 2014, 77--86. https://doi.org/10.1145/2686612.2686623Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  32. Andrew D. Miller and Elizabeth D. Mynatt. 2014. StepStream: A School-based Pervasive Social Fitness System for Everyday Adolescent Health. In Proc. of CHI 2014, 2823--28 https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557190Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  33. Sean A. Munson, Debra Lauterbach, Mark W. Newman, and Paul Resnick. 2010. Happier Together: Integrating a Wellness Application into a Social Network Site. In Proc. of PERSUASIVE 2010, 27--39. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13226-1_5Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  34. Sean A. Munson, Erin Krupka, Caroline Richardson, and Paul Resnick. 2015. Effects of Public Commitments and Accountability in a Technology-Supported Physical Activity Intervention. In Proc. of CHI 2015, 1135--1144. https://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702524Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  35. Sean Munson and Sunny Consolvo. 2012. Exploring Goal-setting, Rewards, Self-monitoring, and Sharing to Motivate Physical Activity. In Proc. of PervasiveHealth 2012, 25--32. https://doi.org/10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2012.248691Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  36. Mark W. Newman, Debra Lauterbach, Sean A. Munson, Paul Resnick, and Margaret E. Morris. 2011. "It's not that I don't have problems, I'm just not putting them on Facebook": Challenges and Opportunities in Using Online Social Networks for Health. In Proc. of CSCW 2011, 341--350. https://doi.org/10.1145/1958824.1958876Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  37. Kunwoo Park, Ingmar Weber, Meeyoung Cha, and Chul Lee. 2016. Persistent Sharing of Fitness App Status on Twitter. In Proc. of CSCW 2016, 183--193. https://doi.org/10.1145/2818048.2819921Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  38. Yvonne Rogers. 2011. Interaction Design Gone Wild: Striving for Wild Theory. interactions 18, 58--62. https://doi.org/10.1145/1978822.1978834Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  39. Norman Sadeh, Jason Hong, Lorrie Cranor, Ian Fette, Patrick Kelley, Madhu Prabaker, and Jinghai Rao. 2009. Understanding and capturing people's privacy policies in a mobile social networking application. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 13, 6: 401--412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-008-0214-3 Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  40. Lauren Scissors, Moira Burke, and Steven Wengrovitz. 2016. What's in a Like? Attitudes and behaviors around receiving Likes on Facebook. In Proc. of CSCW 2016, 1499--1508. https://doi.org/10.1145/2818048.2820066Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  41. Deb Sledgianowski and Songpol Kulviwat. 2009. Using Social Network Sites: The Effects of Playfulness, Critical Mass and Trust in a Hedonic Context. Journal of Computer Information Systems 49, 4: 74--83.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarCross RefCross Ref
  42. Rannie Teodoro and Mor Naaman. 2013. Fitter with Twitter: Understanding Personal Health and Fitness Activity in Social Media. In Proc. of the 7th International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  43. Eran Toch, Justin Cranshaw, Paul Hankes Drielsma, Janice Y. Tsai, Patrick Gage Kelley, James Springfield, Lorrie Cranor, Jason Hong, and Norman Sadeh. 2010. Empirical Models of Privacy in Location Sharing. In Proc. of UbiComp 2010, 129--138. https://doi.org/10.1145/1864349.1864364Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  44. Tammy Toscos and Anne Faber. 2006. Chick Clique: Persuasive Technology to Motivate Teenage Girls to Exercise. In Proc. of CHI EA 2006, 1873--1878. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  45. WalktheChat. 2016. WeChat impact report 2016: all the latest WeChat data. Retrieved from http://walkthechat.com/wechat-impact-report-2016/Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  46. Yang Wang, Yao Li, Bryan Semaan, and Jian Tang. 2016. Space Collapse: Reinforcing, Reconfiguring and Enhancing Chinese Social Practices through WeChat. Proc. of the 10th International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  47. Rayoung Yang, Eunice Shin, Mark W. Newman, and Mark S. Ackerman. 2015. When Fitness Trackers Don't "Fit": End-User Difficulties in the Assessment of Personal Tracking Device Accuracy. In Proc. of UbiComp 2015, 623--634. https://doi.org/10.1145/2750858.2804269Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  48. Xuan Zhao, Cliff Lampe, and Nicole B. Ellison. 2016. The Social Media Ecology: User Perceptions, Strategies and Challenges. In Proc. of CHI 2016, 89--100. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858333Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library

Index Terms

  1. When Fitness Meets Social Networks: Investigating Fitness Tracking and Social Practices on WeRun

      Recommendations

      Comments

      Login options

      Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

      Sign in
      • Published in

        cover image ACM Conferences
        CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
        May 2017
        7138 pages
        ISBN:9781450346559
        DOI:10.1145/3025453

        Copyright © 2017 ACM

        Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

        Publisher

        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 2 May 2017

        Permissions

        Request permissions about this article.

        Request Permissions

        Check for updates

        Qualifiers

        • research-article

        Acceptance Rates

        CHI '17 Paper Acceptance Rate600of2,400submissions,25%Overall Acceptance Rate6,199of26,314submissions,24%

      PDF Format

      View or Download as a PDF file.

      PDF

      eReader

      View online with eReader.

      eReader