When Fitness Meets Social Networks

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.