Alex Mullerhabits.stanford.edu

Influence at least 5 people to apply sunscreen daily (form a new habit)

Use mobile or social technology in a significant way

Fogg Behavior ModelFor a person to perform a behavior, 3

things are necessary: Motivation

A reason to perform the behavior Ability

The capacity to perform the behavior Trigger

A reminder to perform the behavior

Use the concepts of the Fogg Behavioral Model and the social networking site Facebook to create the habit of applying sunscreen daily

Target User: College Students Aware of the harmful effects of

overexposure to sunlight Frequent users of Facebook

Sunscreen was placed on a table next to the exit of a Stanford dormitory

Everyone living on that floor was invited to apply sunscreen as they left the building

A sign encouraged users to go online to the project’s Facebook page

Participants were invited to become fans of the Stanford Sunscreen Challenge Facebook page and post their sunscreen usage on the wall

Motivation Using Facebook to add a social dynamic to

applying sunscreen will increase people’s desire to use it

Ability Providing free sunscreen increases participants’

ability to apply it by removing monetary costs Trigger

Placing sunscreen next to the exit provides a highly visible trigger to apply it before going outside

More than 5 people used sunscreen, but none used it every day over two weeks

The most frequently that a person used sunscreen was every day it was not raining; the least frequently was once

The Facebook page garnered only 3 fans and one wall post, although it had more than 50 views

Positives Several people noted that the positioning of

the sunscreen caused them to use it when they normally would not have

Negatives People rarely applied sunscreen when it was

raining Some people declined to use sunscreen due

to sensitive skin Motivation to put on sunscreen appeared

low; people were often too busy to apply sunscreen

Positives The number of views indicated that people

were going to the Facebook pageNegatives The content of the page was not

interesting enough to encourage people to become fans or post on the wall

The network of people who were aware of the page was only a fraction of the total dorm community, which may have made it less social

Real World Making sunscreen application a daily

habit may require attaching it to a more consistent existing habit

Online For the Facebook page to work, there

must be more engaging content for people to interact with