As I’ve blogged many times, MySQLers frequently share off-work interests and running is one of them. I’ve also blogged about social media, which usually use MySQL under the hood. Now I’ve combined the two (running and social media) with the insight that running is a religion: I’m propagating Runnism, the Religion of Running.

It started as a thought experiment that I’m now pursuing in what in MySQL AB lingo used to be called my “copious free time” (of which there never was much). I’ve started Twitter accounts for Runnism, one for each language in which I tweet in. This is in sharp contrast to my @kajarno twitter account, where I happily mix Swedish, German and English — with the end result that certain of my Twitter followers have asked me whether I’ve already got the Twitter error message “maximum number of non-English tweets exceeded”.

I’ve so far published three Runnism blog entries in English:

• Runnism, the Religion of Running — why?
• The Seven Legs of Runnism
• Why a world religion? And in 20 languages?

In German, I’ve published the equivalent three blog entries

• Runnismus, die Religion des Laufens — wieso?
• Die Sieben Beine des Runnismus
• Weltreligion? Wieso unbedingt Weltreligion? Und 20 Sprachen?

plus a fourth one

• Ein großes Dankeschön an die anwachsende Runnisten-Gemeinschaft!

which is my thanks note to the German Twitterati. After a filmed eleven minute presentation last Wednesday to 50 German alpha twitterers, I was the happy recipient of plenty of tweets and even a long blog entry explaining “Runnismus, die neue Weltreligion” (”Runnism, the new world religion”).

Interested? Follow me on Twitter as @Runnism in English, @Runnismus in German and/or @Runnismen in Swedish!

The MySQL Runners Club meets whenever running MySQLers meet. Sun Microsystems GmbH here in Germany also has something similar — and a good week ago, a group of Sunnies teamed up for the 31. Münchner Stadtlauf half marathon. I decided to make myself an embedded reporter, combining Twitter, Flip Mino, YouTube and a bit of surplus electronics and Web 2.0 media.

What’s the result? 37 Tweets, an almost 10 minute YouTube video and, surprisingly, a new personal record (1:44:06).

You’ll see a bit more in the video. Sure, both voice and text are in German — but you’ll get most of it just looking and sensing the physical presence. I decided to increase the Web 2.0 ambition level from last year, when I just blogged the event.

So check out the results on YouTube and Twitter:

1. The film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkR8ap7AoCw
2. The Tweets: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=&from=kajarno&since=2009-06-28&until=2009-06-28&rpp=50

The commentators on YouTube and Twitter seem to like the film. “The orange mass of people resemble the disorder and rush when bringing the cattle down from the mountain pastures”. I hope the film conveys some of the feeling of running a half marathon!

More comments in my German blog entry: Der rasende Reporter mit dem Mittendrin-Video vom Münchner Stadtlauf 28.6.2009.

And — proudly presenting — my certificate with the new PR 1:44:06:

Do you read German? Then I have two recommendations for you.

First, go read this fresh interview with the German social networking guru Klaus Eck. It’s about “a life long job application process”.

Second, go read the book “Karrierefalle Internet” (”Career trap: Internet”) by Klaus Eck. That book is what the interview is all about.

Klaus Eck’s basic statement is “go manage your online reputation before others do it for you“. He notes that he’s seen plenty of Angst amongst social media newbies about how they’re presented online, with the end result that those who are afraid don’t do anything in their defense (i.e. they don’t establish a web presence of their own), and are thus at the mercy of random comments on their real life turning up in the net. To me, the negative header of the book is rather a reason not to buy the book (”I want to steer clear of Internet, as it is a trap”), but perhaps he’s right that fear sells (”I want not to be trapped by the Internet, so I’ll buy the book”).

At any rate, I bought the book, and I did so after noticing it by coincidence at the physical bookstore Hugendubel at home in Munich. So perhaps he’s right that FUD sells.

As for the insights and structure of the book, I can only recommend it. Klaus has good suggestions and a good logic. He has thought of many Web related things I haven’t, and I find myself concurring with most of those. I would disagree mainly on his recommendation to use Twitter only in one language. Nope. The web should reflect real life. What this means for your presence on Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn, or anywhere is this: If your real life is multilingual, then so should your web presence be. Sure, in real life, I don’t speak Italian to Russians. But on the other hand, I don’t see a point in keeping it a secret from the Russians, that I have an Italian blog. Analogously, if you follow my Twitter feed, you’ll see tweets in several languages. I pick the language based on who I direct the tweet at, and if you don’t read the language in question, then it’s likely that the contents are not that interesting for you, either.

Finally, I’d like to thank Klaus Eck for being one of the key sources of inspiration for my series of blogs where I “share my experiences improving my online manners through social networking websites, many of which are powered by MySQL.”. So far, I’ve done Dopplr, Picasa Web and Facebook. More to come, with time.