Abstract

[This article was originally published in Healthcare Quarterly, 20(3)]

Reaching the recipient of online health messages is necessary to Web-based health promotion applications. To measure willingness to adhere to a health-related Web message, we explored the frequency with which more than 13 million Web users ignored or opted to receive a random inbound message. The findings suggest declining curiosity among Web users about online messages, and that certain days may be more propitious than others for communicating with users. This approach can be modified to gather more granular insights into how messages, including timing and design features, can be tailored to promote improved public health messaging.