1999
Casey Fenton buys a cheap ticket from Boston to Iceland. To find housing, he sends an email to 1500 students, asking if they could host him. The idea of a community using the internet to help travelers find a couch to sleep on was born.
2004
Going online: after a few years, the beta version of the Couchsurfing website is online. One mission: "Creating a better world, one couch at a time."
2006
Couchsurfing 2.0: in June 2006, Couchsurfing experienced multiple computer problems that led to a database loss. The service shut down, apparently irrevocably according to Casey in an email to the members. But the members didn't want to give up the community, which relied a lot on the website: the Collective of Montreal started the development of "CouchSurfing 2.0", which relaunched in July 2006.
2011
Incorporation: before 2011, CouchSurfing was managed by a non-profit organization, and for many members, it was part of the identity of the community. Then its status changed, and Couchsurfing International Inc. registered as a B-Corporation (notice the change in the name, from CouchSurfing to Couchsurfing). Here is some information on what a B-Corporation is.
Some were disappointed by this radical change, which meant that the organization couldn't be managed by its members themselves anymore, but by employees. Despite the disappointment of some of its most active members, the community and its spirit lasted.
Today, Couchsurfing is putting more and more effort into increasing the safety of travelers and hosts, by changing the recommendation rules on the website for example. Many argue that it hurts the community by putting too many restrictions and rules, but it's also building more trust between members.
Some were disappointed by this radical change, which meant that the organization couldn't be managed by its members themselves anymore, but by employees. Despite the disappointment of some of its most active members, the community and its spirit lasted.
Today, Couchsurfing is putting more and more effort into increasing the safety of travelers and hosts, by changing the recommendation rules on the website for example. Many argue that it hurts the community by putting too many restrictions and rules, but it's also building more trust between members.
Some statistics
Sadly, I couldn't find recent statistics, the statistics page of the website doesn't exist anymore. The 2014 statistics about users, gender and the variety of locations and languages are presented nicely here. Today, the website has 12 million members, spread across 200,000 cities in the world.
You can even find an article about "The Role of Geography in CouchSurfing Social Network Activities"!
More to come soon!
You can even find an article about "The Role of Geography in CouchSurfing Social Network Activities"!
More to come soon!
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