Underground Web Designs Blog

This is the first of my “Link Love Sundays” articles. As I mentioned in my post National Day of Service, every Sunday I will take some time to go “off topic” and promote a small business, organization, or individual that is doing something good for the world. These posts are all 100% free… I’m not compensated in any way.

Couchsurfing.com -- Got Couch?

If you travel a lot, there is a chance you’ve already heard of Couchsurfing.com. If you haven’t, couchsurfing is essentially a social network that helps travelers find a place to stay while on the road by connecting them with other members of the site who are willing to host them. Hosting is not elaborate - accommodations range from a cozy spot on the floor to a spare room, though in most cases the traveler sleeps on the couch (hence the name). 

Couchsurfing is much more than just a free place to sleep, however. In fact, the official couchsurfing mission statement - “Participate in Creating a Better World, One Couch at a Time” - has little to do with travel at all. Instead, the focus is to “networking people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance and facilitate cultural understanding” (Couchsurfing Mission page). 

As a member of Couchsurfing.com for just over a year, I have seen that mission expressed in a huge variety of ways, both at home and abroad. During a 6 week backpacking trip in Europe in the Summer of 2008 I couchsurfed in the UK, France, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands, and was always welcomed not only by my host but also by the local couchsurfing group and often the host’s non-couchsurfing friends. No matter where I went, couchsurfers were more than willing to host me if they could, show me around when they had time, and help me out in any other way they could. One of the highlights of my trip was a 5 day camping trip on Naxos in Greece, with over 100 other couchsurfers. The entire trip was organized by volunteers, and attendees came from all over the world. 

Back at home in Canada, I have been experiencing another facet of couchsurfing… being part of a local group. Many medium / large cities around the world have a local couchsurfing group. This group takes the form of a dedicated forum on Couchsurfing.com where members can post and organize events, parties, or just about anything else. Besides a weekly meeting on Tuesday nights there is always 1 or 2 other events created on the spur of the moment and opened up to any couchsurfers who want to come.

Yet another example of the couchsurfing mission in action are groups for people who are all interested in a particular thing. As of this writing there are over 15,000 groups on the couchsurfing site focused on everything from marital arts, to vegan diets, to theater. Any member can join a group and participate!

Probably the most important part of Couchsurfing, and the part that makes everything else possible is the references system. Every couchsurfer can leave references about other couchsurfers he has interacted with, either positive, neutral, or negative. This produces a self-policing system similar to Ebay’s feedback. If you’re a jerk, everyone will quickly know about it, and nobody will invite you to anything — or host you. Couchsurfing is a very liberal, open place. You’re free to say just about anything you want (as long as it isn’t abusive, defamatory, etc) but you also have no anonymity. The site will tie everything back to your profile.

So, whether you’re a young backpacker, retired traveler, or are just looking to meet new people from around the world, Couchsurfing.com is - in my opinion - one of the best places to do it. If you’re open minded and willing to expand your horizons and step out of your comfort zone you’ll have a blast.

Just one quick tip: don’t use it as a dating site… that’s one of the fastest ways to get negative references!

I know, I know, everybody’s saying to use this or that social network to promote your business. Well, even though I don’t agree that every business should be using social networking, there are certainly some businesses that should use it, and use it well.

If your business is a local business– you’re offering a local product or service and don’t plan on shipping it all over the world — Facebook is the perfect way to promote it. In fact, a local business is the only type of business I would recommend use Facebook, for three reasons:

1. Local businesses match Facebook’s goals. Facebook is designed to connect you to your friends and let you share with them what you’re doing. If your business is a local thing, you can tie into this friend connection by creating a group for your business and getting friends to join, posting pictures of friends or others using your products, etc.
2. You can capitalize on interaction. Besides connection, Facebook is all about interaction — Who did what, when, and with whom. Use this dynamic to promote your product. Get people talking about you and your business with their friends. Make your business a part of their lives.
3. Make your business comment worthy. Facebook is all about short comments. Wall posts, picture comments, etc. Make sure that what you do is worth commenting on. If nobody comments on your business you will get no benefit from Facebook.

In order to promote anything successfully on Facebook, it has to be interesting to your current friends list. If you start a Facebook group for your business, remember that only your own friends will see it at first. If they find it interesting, it will spread. If they don’t, it will fail. If what you do is of no interest to your own friends, then don’t bother promoting on Facebook. Try something else. But if you can make what you do interesting to your friends — enough that they will comment and interact with you about it — you have the potential to grow a very large business using Facebook.

Now I’m just like the next guy — I won’t comment on just anything. But this whole post was inspired by a local business using Facebook for advertising and promotion. Take a look: Bake Me A Cake. Look at the pictures, read the comments. If you can do this with your business, then promote it using Facebook. If you can’t generate this kind of buzz, don’t waste your time.

Everybody is talking about social bookmarking, social media, social networking, etc. So what’s the key word in all those names? It’s SOCIAL. Marketers: Remember that!

The whole idea of the social web is that everyone is involved, and everyone can make their feelings heard. As a marketer or business man, this sounds like a dream come true. Countless opportunities to get your message heard! Just don’t forget that the social web works because it’s a two way street. You get to say what you want to say… but then everybody else gets to say what they think of it. If what you offer isn’t up to par you’ll be ignored, or maybe even labeled a spammer.

Now maybe people are quick to judge. But in the social web, nobody really cares. All it takes is one person who’s ticked off enough to write a negative review, and suddenly your integrity is in question. In the online world, one negative review can and WILL be seen by many, many people thanks to the power of Google.

So by all means, enter this strange new world of social media and spread the message of what you do. Just be careful how you’re presenting yourself. Give me a great product at a good price and I’ll sing you’re praises to the world. But if you rip me off, I’ll gladly trash your reputation forever.

Ye Have Been Warned.