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Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Aug 9;19(16):9794.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19169794.

The Role of Facebook® in Promoting a Physically Active Lifestyle: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Federica Duregon  1 , Valentina Bullo  1 , Andrea Di Blasio  2 , Lucia Cugusi  3 , Martina Pizzichemi  4 , Salvatore Sciusco  1 , Gianluca Viscioni  2 , David Cruz-Diaz  5 , Danilo Sales Bocalini  6 , Alessandro Bortoletto  1 , Francesco Favro  1 , Cristine Lima Alberton  7 , Stefano Gobbo  1 , Marco Bergamin  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

The Role of Facebook® in Promoting a Physically Active Lifestyle: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Federica Duregon et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: it is well known in literature that sedentary lifestyle contributes to worsening people's health. This issue highlights the need for effective interventions to promote an active lifestyle. Research suggested multilevel intervention strategies to promote adherence to recommended physical activity levels, including the use of social networks that may simplify access to health notions. Being Facebook® the most extensive worldwide social network, this document aimed to analyze the current body of evidence on the role of Facebook® in the promotion of physical activity.

Methods: eighteen manuscripts were considered eligible for this systematic review, and it was performed a meta-analysis (PRISMA guidelines) for overall physical activity parameters in eleven out of eighteen studies.

Results: significant improvements were detected in the total amount of physical activity. In parallel, an increase in other parameters, such as cardiovascular, body composition, and social support, were found. The aerobic training, with supervised and tailored modalities, showed more considerable improvements.

Conclusions: this study showed that Facebook® might be considered a feasible and accessible approach to promoting regular exercise practice and achieving health benefits indicators. Future research on the cross-link between physical activity and social network management could also focus on strength training to verify if a more structured intervention would show an effect.

Keywords: Facebook; active lifestyle; health benefits; meta-analysis; physical activity; review; social network.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the literature research.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot representing effect size of FB intervention and control, paper and other groups in total amount of physical activity. FB: Facebook group; CG: control group; PG: paper group; FB+: Facebook with other supports; FB−: Facebook without support.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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