I’m a participant on a good number of social media/networking sites.
Yet I value none of them as highly as Couch Surfing.
Why — because it has literally (not virtually) taken me around the world.
In their words they are “Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch At A Time”
“CouchSurfing is a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit.”
Helping people connect is cool beans and all but as much as I care about my online second life, there is nothing like practical value in a social networking site.
I’ve been a member for four years. With about a dozen surfing experiences, I consider myself a step above CS novices.
The concept in a nutshell is that you can crash on the spare couches of other users anywhere across the globe. That is, as long as you ask them and arrange it before hand. Of course, there is an e-bay esque vouching system, where a user can see the profile and recommendations of a potential surfer/host. Certainly pretty hippy-dippy, but equally dope.
My experiences have never been as shallow as the obvious monetary advantage to Couch Surfing. Many times my surfing stays have included meals, discussions about a range of topics and surely an overall unmatched (and usually pretty authentic) cultural exchange. . Some have even resulted in meeting people I now consider legitimate friends.
Even when I wasn’t able to find a host in a desired location, I’ve found great referrals and recommendations for things to do while visiting a place.
It’s sort of the perfect arrangement for the active traveler, but consequently the nightmare for the passive vacationer.
One thing that can’t be denied is the success of the site, which boasts some stats I snagged below:
CouchSurfers 1,447,706 Successful Surf or Host Experiences 1,517,342 Friendships Created 1,676,366 Positive Experiences 2,690,160 Countries Represented 231 Cities Represented 66,070 in the last hour, there were 96 real-life introductions (72 positive, 0 negative)* and 45 new couches (60.8% of 74 signups) the last day: 3,274 real-life introductions (2,303 positive, 5 negative) 1,111 new couches (63.7% of 1,743 signups) the last week: 26,558 real-life introductions (19,206 positive, 28 negative) 9,159 new couches (66.3% of 13,820 signups) I recommend Couch Surfing to anyone interested in walking the two-way street of true travel.
Plus, you can save a good amount of dough to spend on more traveling.
www.couchsurfing.com
http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/dweezy/
