I Ain’t No Qwitter

Qwitter is a service that uses Twitter to help you quit smoking. Again, I am quite skeptical about it’s efficacy (in the same way I am skeptical about the nicotine receptor blocker varenicline, which is now being marketed by Pfizer as Champix). Somebody should do a study on the effects of social networks on smoking cessation. Without evidence that the application of so-called Web 2.o services works in the real world, it’s nothing but hot air.

Qwitter works by receiving Twitter updates from the user and using that information to generate a progress graph. A user can also send updates to generate an online journal, a record of thoughts and feelings as he or she goes through the process of quitting.

I noticed that a lot of the so-called “qwitters” began and stopped on the month of February. Some even stopped posting after their first update. I think this endeavor — though admirable — has the tell-tale signs of an epic fail.

Has anyone out there used this service? I would like to know how it went.