New Site for Runners!—Runnertalk.net

I'm such a social-media nerd, especially when it comes to running-related social sites. There's just something so cool about connecting with runners from all over the world. In previous posts, I've mentioned various great social network sites for runners such as Athlinks, Dailymile, seriousrunning, and Runners'Lounge. Now I've come across another site with a slightly different twist that I'd like to add to the list—Runnertalk.net.

Runnertalk was initially started as a blog by 20-year-old runner and information technology student Patrik Pettersson from Sweden. After lack of time updating the site, Patrik forgot about it for a while. Almost a year later, he decided to reinvent Runnertalk as a social media site for runners. Patrik loves how there are many good blogs and websites about running out there, so he designed Runnertalk as a place where all the best articles from those sites can be made available. Before he started the site he had seen a lot of sites like this (digg clones) in other niches such as finance, health, and web design, but he had never seen such a thing for runners, so he thought it was about time one was created.

Patrik's vision is to make Runnertalk THE place to find and discuss great articles about running. His dream is that it can be a site that's available to everyone. The members will find great posts and the bloggers (whose posts are submitted) will hopefully find new readers. He knows at the beginning there won't be a lot of submitted stories, but as the traffic grows to Runnertalk so will the traffic to the stories. The site is in constant development and new features will continue to be added. For example, Patrik's planning to add some buttons for bloggers and webmasters to put on their sites to make it easy for their readers to submit and vote on their stories.

So how does it work? When a user submits a link it will land in the upcoming section. Other users can now vote on the link. If the links get a lot of votes it will be transferred to the Popular section, the main page of runnertalk.

Do you have to become a member? By signing up as a member you will be able to affect the content on the site by submitting, voting on and commenting on the links you like the most. The sign-up process is quick and most importantly, it's free!

How can bloggers participate in the site? As a blogger, your posts will get more exposure and more readers will be driven to your blog by submitting your articles to Runnertalk. When they are available, be sure to add one of the links/buttons to your blog, making it easy for readers to vote on your posts.

So, take a few moments and check out Runnertalk. If you have a running blog, try submitting a few of your favorite posts!