An article in the New England Journal of Medicine has just published an interesting report. Their finding suggest that when a person gains weight, their spouses, family members, and close friends had an increased chance of also gaining weight. The closer the social relationship, the more likely you were to be affected by that person’s weight gain.

While this may not be too surprising, what is surprising is finding that geographic distance did not diminish the affects of ‘social closeness’. In other words, what matters is not the distance of the relationship, but the relationship itself.

As one blog put it, “the closer the friendship, the more likely people were to influence one another, regardless of geography- friends who live hundreds of miles away have just as much impact as friends who are next door. These findings solidify the theory that virtual communities can effectively influence members…”

The internet provides the content, and good training can go a long way, but an extremely important part of the puzzle is a social network that allows users to interact with other learners.