Thursday, January 14, 2010

Twitter linked to lowering cancer risk

A team of researchers from the University of Montana have found that heavy Twitter users are less prone to developing a variety of cancers than individuals who either do not use the popular micro-blogging service or use it only occasionally. Amongst the study group, of those who developed cancer over a 12 month period, none were found to be heavy Twitter users (ie those who tweet more than 10 times a day).

'The evidence is quite clear' said team lead Lars Balderson 'If you send a lot of tweets, you are very unlikely to develop cancer. It's really quite amazing, we didnt expect this.'

Twitter CEO Evan Williams, when informed of the study, said 'Well to be honest we're not that surprised - we've  often suspected there were health benefits to Twitter. For instance, our own informal studies have shown that heavy users suffer less colds & flus than the general population. Probably you know because they're not out actually out meeting people with all those germs but staying safe in front of a keyboard'.

Balderson indicated that the next phase of the study will determine whether Twitter competitor Facebook offers similar cancer-fighting benefits "Yes Facebook is next. Personally I hope there is no beneficial correlation because, to be honest some of my Facebook friends are really annoying and so I actually wouldn't mind a little pruning of my social tree if you know what I mean'.

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