Abstract
This study examined the #MyPlateMyWins Twitter campaign from ChooseMyPlate.gov to understand the motivational strategies used to influence people to change their eating habits. Although studies have explored healthy diet promotion in a variety of contexts, researchers have been slower to explore how Twitter is used in this regard. Applying Uses and Gratification (U&G) theory and using a thematic analysis, this paper found three major strategies used by the campaign: Starting with small changes in health behavior; being a healthy eating role model for kids; and, remaining physically active. These findings should be helpful for organizations or individuals to design effective strategies on social media platforms to advocate people to change their healthy eating behavior. A major limitation of this research is that it used data from only one campaign and one hashtag. Accordingly, I suggested conducting future research using persuasive contents from more than one campaign and hashtag to find the more refined outcome.
Advisor
Christopher Brown
Committee Member
Anne Kerber
Committee Member
Jennifer Veltsos
Date of Degree
2017
Language
english
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
College
Arts and Humanities
Recommended Citation
Jamal Uddin, M. (2017). Motivational Strategies for Improving Healthy Eating Habits: A Thematic Analysis of a MyPlate Twitter Campaign [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/741/
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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