CouchSurfing.com, the popular travel network which allows its members to offer up their couch to fellow travelers as free accommodation, could have some major competition in its future.
Travel community TripUp has recently developed a Facebook application that mimics the Couch Surfing project. Members who have added the application to their Facebook profile can list their own couch as a home for fellow travelers, as well as browse a map of other members who are offering up a couch.
The biggest advantage of this is being able to tap into Facebook’s huge worldwide network — a reported 30-million users. The Couch Surfing project has over 270,000 members according to TechCrunch.
But will TripUp’s Facebook application take off? It takes a certain personality to open up your home and couch to passing strangers — something the Facebook crowd, in general, won’t necessarily be willing to do. The Couch Surfing project is well-established and robust, while TripUp’s is severely lacking in important features such as a verification and rating system.
I’ll stick with CouchSurfing.