The In
The CouchSurfing community is one made of 2.7 million people. The community is built on trust, respect and generosity. Members of the community describe it as “experience,” “community,” and “network.” The level of trust in the CouchSurfing community is crucial between both surfers and hosts. If you’re in the CouchSurfing community you feel safe and excited about your traveling experiences. Credibility and trust is built upon surfer testimonials or vouchers on hosts’ profiles and being a verified member of the community.
“My post-graduation plans are to travel the country in my car for as long as I can. Because I will probably be relying heavily on CS to see the cities and towns where I don't have any connections, I decided to join for my last year in Madison so that I could host as many people as possible in order to build cred[ibility] on the site. People are much more likely to accept your surfing requests if you have a lot of references and friends on the site, plus I want to share my couch and life in Madison with as many people as possible before getting on the road and relying on the kindness of others.” (Liza Burkin, Madison, Wis.)
Other members of the community rely on hosts when they travel spontaneously. Because the CouchSurfing community is very tight-knit, hosts often go out of their way to make surfers’ experiences as wonderful as possible.
“We were visiting my family in Lithuania, and I always wanted to show the sea to my husband….I sent requests to basically everybody in town. One of them was Justas, and wrote to him. The guy was traveling in China; he contacted his sister and arranged a couch for us. She had no CouchSurfing profile and had a 3-month baby at home. She agreed to host my husband, my brother, my 6-year-old son and me. The couple was very nice, we chatted till 4am. Had a great time, and a free place to sleep.” (Alma Howland, Madison, Wis.)
The CouchSurfing community is built upon real identities. This is the best type of community because members are open about who they are. Using real identities also encourages a sense of collective action within the community, which strengthens the functionality of CouchSurfing.
“For my part, I contribute my time and energy by volunteering on the ‘New Member Welcome’ working group on CS and was ‘City Ambassador’ for CS for my home city of Glasgow for a couple of years, moderating groups, arranging ‘Meet ups’ and events.” (Kate Wright, Careers, Scotland)
The Out
Those who are not involved in the CouchSurfing community view the CouchSurfing service as “danger,” “scary,” and “rape.” The thought of staying on a stranger’s couch in another city, state, country or continent makes those outside the community uncertain. The dichotomy between the members of the community and those outside the community are astonishing. Perceptions of murder, freeloaders and creepers are common ways those outside the community viewed the CouchSurfing service.
We conducted an anonymous survey and received 138 responses regarding the CouchSurfing community. When asked: "CouchSurfing is a worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit. If you haven't CouchSurfed before, would you use this free service to stay on a host's couch while you traveled?" people were very skeptical. Of the respondents, 60 people said “yes” and 78 people said “no.” Of our survey respondents, only 9 had either hosted or surfed themselves.
“We are in community each time we find a place where we belong.” (Peter F. Block)
