As a long time ex-smoker and one of the not-so-enamored with twitter crowd, I really hope this works for a lot of folks. I quit “cold turkey” after developing a relationship with the reality of my declining health and rising age. I’ve tried to use and enjoy twitter but find it only to be a unique combination of boring and annoying. 

I quit cigarettes back in “Web 1.0” and used QuitMeter to display my current stats on my blog back then. I did this mainly as a reminder to myself, but I also got a number of daily comments and emails from my readers, so I see the value in a web based “reminder” system, but if I were using a twitter system to quit, I might bail pretty quickly just from the annoyance factor if I didn’t feel like I was meeting my goals.

I strongly believe that tapering off should be very short term. Some people stretch “tapering” too long and just keep smoking.  A week of “tapering” should be sufficient for anyone who actually wants to quit smoking.

vasta:

This is one of many great examples of how Twitter can be used for the public good. Congratulations to everyone involved.