Looking for a Couch to Crash On?

Talk about the ultimate community. It gives me much hope to watch the success of a site like Couchsurfing.com, a online community that helps travelers find a place to crash in cities across the globe. The ultimate benefit of such a service is the friendships that develop and the experiences that these people can have if they are willing to take a chance.

The community has grown to over 500,000 surfers since the site launched in 2004. Such an idea makes me realize just how willing people are to bridge online relationships into real world experiences...and the possibilities of that realization seem endless.

Check out the site...and if you are truly daring, find a couch somewhere new!

http://www.couchsurfing.com/

Story of Stuff

I'm sure a behind the curve on this one, but just discovered this very smart video that explains the dangers of our current consumption patterns in a very simple, yet powerful way.

If you haven't seen this yet, enjoy! If you have, I would love to hear your thoughts.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Sites of the Day: Blurb and Littlepaperplanes

Couple cool new sites that were passed my way...

Blurb.com:
Make your own Book - could this be the next big thing in customization? Very cool concept and something I can see appealing to a wide range of people. In fact, I'll be starting my first book very soon.
http://www.blurb.com/

Another interesting venture that allows artists to connect, share and sell there works across different mediums.
http://littlepaperplanes.com/main.php

Story Telling: The most powerful tool your brand can have

Below is a really cool article from my friends at Trendwatching.com. Interesting discussion about the shift from mass to niche and what impact this may have on the brands we know and trust. We all know that story telling is one of the most powerful way to grow you brand...the challenge how do brand allow (and encourage) consumers to do the story telling for them.

Great examples of brands that are hitting the spot:
http://trendwatching.com/trends/statusstories.htm