If you’re looking for help kicking a smoking habit, consider Twitter.

Researchers writing in the journal Tobacco Control found that participating in a program called Tweet2Quit significantly improves people’s success with ditching smoking.

Here’s how Tweet2Quit works: Participants sent group messages to other Tweet2Quit users throughout the study, while a control group did not use Twitter. Those assigned to the Twitter program were further separated into groups of 20 people. The small-group interactions then prompted smokers to support each other in their efforts to quit.

Tweet2Quit members posted tips, supportive messages and questions related to their efforts to stop smoking. They also received two automated messages each day from the Tweet2Quit administrators. The Twitter users and those in the control group also received nicotine replacement products and were referred to an online guide to quitting smoking. Only people who regularly used social media and smoked at least five cigarettes a day were allowed to enroll in the study.

Sixty days after they quit, 40 percent of Tweet2Quit users reported sustained cessation, compared with 20 percent of people in the control group who used traditional methods. The researchers also found that the Twitter participants continued engaging with the Tweet2Quit community for an extended time period. Researchers said the results show the valuable role that support networks play in the effort to quit tobacco, and that social media can be a helpful intervention tool.

So instead of holding a cigarette in your hand, consider picking up a cell phone or computer mouse instead. There’s help out there in cyberspace.