Couchsurfing meets Twitter

Apologies for having gone slightly Twitter mad this past fortnight, but here’s another interesting find. Twitter also has search facility, which enables you to look for updates related specifically to your interests or hobbies. I decided to put "couchsurfing" in and give it a whirl. The results showed reams of mentions. I scanned a few pages and came up across some interesting links. Here are the best ones:


Are couchsurfers 21st-century hobos?
Article from Dakota Today nicely touches on the idea that good Couchsurfers are more interested in making connections with people than sightseeing. The writer, living near Mount Rushmore, also discovers how hosting a couchsurfer can help him rediscover his own area.

Couchsurfing for cyclists
Tips from two intrepid travellers who are blogging their three-year trip cycling from Alaska to the “end of the world” in Argentina’s Ushuaia. Featuring Couchsurfing.com, HospitalityClub.org and WarmShowers.org too. This is a blog to watch.

Let the world come to you
Time Out Chicago profiles a local twentysomething who couldn’t afford a plane fare, so decided to travel through others by becoming a couchsurfing host.

Couchsurfing for Obama
CNN on how couchsurfing helped ease the accommodation shortage in Washington during Obama’s inauguration. Features one couple who hosted 16 travellers in their three-bedroom home. "We read about the people who are renting their houses for $2,000 a night, and we thought, 'That's so in contradiction to what we believe’."

Couchsurfing with kids
A basic intro from HaveKidsWillTravel for those interested in couchsurfing as a family.

Also on Twitter:
Within people's tweets - aside from the predictable "OMG! Have you heard about Couchsurfing.com?" messages - I also noticed people discussing Couchsurfing.com's new logo (sneak preview above) and came across this interesting character, @CouchsurfingOri.

Here are some of the tweets I liked:

@wanderblah: Mum still cant quite get the couchsurfing thing...

@stefidi: Being active on CouchSurfing again makes me happy. :)

@houshuang: Found a CouchSurfing host for Houston Open Education conference. Great!

@arsie: At a local Couchsurfing party in Wellington. AWESOME!!!

@godfoca: Just switched "couch available" from "Yes" to "Maybe" on CouchSurfing. I really need some time to get some shit done =/ =(

And, on that note, like @godfoca, I’m off to get some shit done...

From fridgesurfing to pottysurfing

The couchsurfers and the cynics have been having virtual fisticuffs again. This time, they've been arguing the merits of travel networking in response to an article on MLive.com. I must admit the cynics make for a better read.

"Just what I want, someone I don't know staying at my home. Might as well pick up a hitchhiker and invite them home for dinner," says one of the commenters. "If anyone is interested, I am start a fridgesurfing site. I'm sure it will become all the rage."

It's shortly followed by this suggestion...

"I have what I think is a perfect business for possible cross-promotion. It's called PottySurfing. It's a network of kind, caring, progressive-minded households across the country who make their loo available to travelers in their time of bodily need. For the traveler it replaces the sometime frantic search, gas station, to grocery stores, to the bushes by the side of the road. For the homeowner, renter or squatter, it provides the opportunity to meet some really interesting people. You don't really get to know a community until you can say for certain if its an over the roll or under the roll town. Our company motto is ´You know where to go, when you got to go´."

Actually, it´s not far off the idea of WarmShowers - where cyclists open their homes to other cyclists who need to freshen up after a long ride.

Perhaps an enterprising soul should buy up the pottysurfing.com domain before it´s too late.