Researchers used Twitter to study exercise preferences

Young men and women running on city streets. They are wearing sport clothing.

What are the typical profiles of amateur athletes in the United States? How can public health messaging encouraging physical activity best target local populations? These questions were the basis of a study led by doctors from Boston University’s School of Public Health. 

The authors of the new study published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine fine-combed 1,382,284 exercise-related tweets from 481,146 Twitter users from four US regions: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and the West.