Background/Aims Members of a social network can influence screening behavior, but it is unclear whether people are willing to share colon cancer screening experiences by email as a means of promoting screening in friends and family.

Methods We conducted interviews with 140 people ages 40–70 years in 3 states (Massachusetts, Hawaii, Georgia) to assess their willingness to encourage colorectal cancer screening among friends and family by sharing their own screening experiences. Preferred mode of message transmission (spoken, postcard or email), message characteristics, and projected number of email or postcard recipients per respondent were ascertained. The participants were asked to estimate the impact of their message on their friends or family with regard to willingness to discuss colon cancer screening with a healthcare provider. They were also asked to assess how they would feel receiving such a message.

Results 84% of all respondents indicated willingness to pass along a self-edited message in which senders stated that they had completed a colonoscopy and encouraged colon-cancer screening in friends and family over age 50. Among those who report having had colonoscopies, 83% indicated willingness to transmit a message, with 60% indicating they would send emails. Respondents who self- identified as being sources of health information for friends or family were more willing to transmit messages (89.7% willing vs 65.5%; p<0.05). 116 respondents reported willingness to send out an estimated total of 577 postcards or 993 emails. 69% of all respondents thought that receiving such a message themselves would make them more likely to discuss colon cancer screening with a healthcare provider and 64% thought it would make friends and family more likely to have such a discussion.

Discussion The majority of interviewees who had completed colonoscopies were willing to share their screening experiences with friends and family through a self-edited email; close to two-thirds thought such an email would influence recipients. Further work is necessary to explore the impact of such an intervention.