PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A local study shows that social media can help college students lose weight.

In the study, overweight students at Temple University were split into three groups: a control group, one that received weight loss information on Facebook, and a third that received the Facebook posts plus encouraging daily text messages.

Dr. Melissa Napolitano (below right), a professor of kinesiology at Temple who conducted the study, says the texting did make a difference.

(Dr. Melissa Napolitano. Source: Temple Univ.)

“The ‘Facebook plus’ group lost about 5.3 pounds over the course of eight weeks, which averages about two-thirds of a pound a week, which is what we see with some of our face-to-face programs,” she notes.

She says the Facebook-only group lost weight, but less than the texting set, so it appears that using social media may become an important tool in helping college students fight obesity.

Reported by Lynne Adkins, KYW Newsradio 1060