Facebook can do many things, even help prevent the spread of
sexually transmitted infections. A new study from the University
of Colorado, published in the American Journal of Preventative
Medicine, took a group of Facebook users aged 18 to 24 to see if
receiving updates from a sexual health-based page or posting
content to a news page made them more likely to wear condoms.
The results were encouraging. When the participants were asked
about their last sexual encounter two months into the study, 68
percent of the users who liked Just/Us, the sexual health-based
page, said they used condoms. Among the control group, of those
who posted content to 18-24 News, 56 percent said their last
sexual experience was protected. However, these numbers fell to
60 percent among the Just/Us members after six months. The study
was mainly focused on young Latino and African-American
participants, who made up 14 percent and 35 percent of the
study, respectively. Lead researcher Sheana S. Bull wrote about
the study in a press re