Uniting media campaigns with the power of Monday

In recent years, the number of social media-based health campaigns has skyrocketed, largely due to the cost-effectiveness and ease of use of social media platforms. These technologies are starting to see evidence of success in promoting healthy behaviors. While evaluating outcomes is of course critical for any public health initiative, practitioners could potentially increase program impact by answering the following process-related questions: 1) How often should we be communicating with program participants via social media platforms? and 2) When is the ideal window of time to be delivering these messages? These questions regarding “dosage” have yet to be adequately answered by the scientific community. However, current evidence suggests that weekly messages may be an ideal frequency to motivate people to start and maintain healthy behaviors, and Monday may be the best day for such messages to be delivered. Drawing on the successful strategies of the "Meatless Monday" social media campaign, national organizations, such as the National Cancer Institute and Planned Parenthood, as well as universities and local health departments are taking advantage of the “Monday Effect” in using social media to promote a wide variety of existing health programs on Mondays. By leveraging the natural tendency to focus on health behaviors at the beginning of the week, these programs are able to boost participation levels and establish a sustainable social context for healthy behavior. This presentation will provide an explanation of the science behind the Monday phenomenon as well as an overview of current programs utilizing Monday for health promotion.