(I pre-wrote this post as I am currently at Northern Voice: a blogging conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada).
Every Friday I am going to talk about a website that I think is revolutionary and provides great value to the Internet. In this first edition of the Jeremy David Review, I am going to highlight CouchSurfing.com. In one sentence: eBay meets MySpace in a travel-centric social networking community.
People from around the world create profiles where they advertise their vacant couch on the Internet. Travelers can look up couches, find a free place to stay, and meet some interesting people. The eBay aspect of the site comes in when users leave feedback on each other’s profiles post-surf. This helps make the project safe. Best of all, it’s free.
How is this site revolutionary?
“The friendships made through CouchSurfing enhance members’ lives and contribute greatly to making the world a better, safer, more peaceful place.” Sounds pretty impressive to me. This August I am going traveling around the world (well, to Europe, Australia, and New Zealand) and I intend to use this site to its fullest. I will have the opportunity to meet cool people and go on adventures that are not easily found in a travel book. This community project is funded by generous donations by its members, and so far there have been 92,362 positive experiences. Outstanding.
This open sourced and collaborative project to bring the world together is certainly deserving of its nomination. Congratulations! And as always, if you have any comments, ideas, or experiences relating to this post, please leave them in the comments section!
