Survey Shows New Social Health Networks Help People Stick to Their New Year's Resolutions

DENVER, Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- WellTok®, Inc., developer of leading social health network, CafeWell, today announced the results of a recent survey showing that social health network users have confidence and high expectations that the new social tools and experiences will help them achieve their New Year's resolutions.

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In the survey, 86 percent of responding CafeWell users said that the social health network would help them achieve their New Year's resolutions.

Fitness challenges and competing with others was ranked as the most helpful activity for sticking to resolutions.  It was ranked highest by a two-to-one margin over the next highest impact activity or feature.  It was ranked as first, second or third most important by 51 percent of respondents.

The encouragement of other members was the next most highly rated activity for achieving resolutions, with first, second or third rankings by 20% of respondents.

"The survey results demonstrate that new social health networks such as CafeWell bring back the fun, informal competition that kept us motivated and enjoying exercise and physical activity when we were kids," said Chad Fleischer, two-time Olympian and World Cup downhill silver medalist.  See a video of Fleischer highlighting that here.

"As kids, all of us had a little friendly competition going on with our friends in any activity or sport," noted fitness expert and coach, Carrie Williams.  "But we lose most of that as adults, making exercise much less fun.  Social health networks like CafeWell bring that back, with the ability to compete in fitness challenges with friends, family, co-workers, other members that you get to know on the site, and even veteran professional athletes."

Pamela Zemaitis, a CafeWell user from the Harrisburg, Penn. area, added, "I enjoy the challenges.  I like that the challenges set a goal and give me something to strive for.  The challenges involve activities that are a little different and it's nice to mix up my routine.  I enjoy seeing the feedback from the challenges...the comments usually makes me smile."

"I participate in the challenges not only for the badges, but for the camaraderie and competition, which I love.  It's about encouraging and helping each other grow in fitness and health," said Rick Sanger, a user from greater Harrisburg, Penn.

Chris Belville, another user from the Pittsburgh area, added, "The challenges are what I consider to be the best part of CafeWell.  For me, it is not about being in first place, it is more about having a weekly goal that gets more challenging every week.  Whether I'm in the run for first place or trying to reach my goal on the final day of the challenge, I feel great about my health at the end of the week when I complete the challenge.

Survey respondents noted that discussion groups and blogs were less critical for sticking to New Year's resolutions, with only 8 percent and 11 percent, respectively, ranking them as the most helpful activities.  Although ranked lower than other features in this single-issue study, both discussion groups and blogs draw high daily activity levels.

Sixty-seven (67) percent of survey respondents reported that they had made one or more New Year's resolutions for 2012.  The top categories among those included 77 percent that are fitness-related, 59 percent that are diet-related and 44 percent that are general health and wellness-related.

Among the least frequent responses, 20 percent were relationship-related, 22 percent were work-related and 28 percent were financially focused.

About Chad Fleischer
An elite athlete, Chad Fleischer is a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Ski Team, where he competed in two Olympic games and five World Championships, in which he won the Silver Medal in the downhill at the World Cup finals in Sierra Nevada, Spain. Chad also was twice the U.S. national downhill champion. Today, in addition to running Fleischer Sports in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Chad is a coach and contributor on CafeWell.   

About Carrie Williams
Carrie Williams is a respected fitness and wellness coach, who developed corporate wellness and fitness programs for thousands of people at companies such as General Electric, UnitedHealthcare and USA Today.  She also has 15 years of experience in group exercise instruction and personal training.  Her passion is helping people make exercise and nutrition changes to have a better quality of life, and she is a coach and contributor on CafeWell.

About the social health network survey
The on-line survey was conducted among users of the CafeWell social health network between December 22, 2011 and January 11, 2012; n=126.  A full report of the survey results is available upon request.

About CafeWell™ and WellTok®, Inc.
CafeWell is a social health network that makes getting better connected to your health and fitness more fun and more rewarding.  CafeWell provides one stop for consumers' health, wellness and fitness -- including social networking; advice from experts, peers and veteran professional athletes; fun health challenges with family members and co-workers; and reliable health and fitness information.  Through CafeWell, sponsors can offer rewards and incentives to promote activity and health improvement.  Users control the degree to which their identity is shared, with complete anonymity as the default.  To learn more about CafeWell, visit www.cafewell.com.

WellTok is pioneering Social Health Management™ (SMH), the complete social networking solution for healthcare population managers.  WellTok's SHM suite provides a complete solution, including the industry's most engaging social health network, CafeWell, broad member and group analytics, and integration with healthcare payers and providers' corporate systems and MLR requirements.  WellTok, Inc. is headquartered in Denver, Colo.  http://www.welltok.com

Media Contacts:
Brad Samson
720-222-9490 x427
[email protected]

Andrea Scott
720-222-9490 x433
[email protected]

SOURCE WellTok, Inc.