How to submit CS videos

Follow these instructions to submit your videos for display on the CouchSurfing website.

Basic Instructions

1. Please read and follow the video submissions etiquette below.
2. Submit your video to YouTube or Google Video. For more help, please follow the instructions on those websites.
3. Create a thumbnail of your video following the the instructions below.
4. Edit the Member submitted videos page to add your video following the instructions below.

Etiquette

We welcome video submissions from all members from professional documentaries to personal video-blogs. We only ask that you follow the following etiquette:

• Videos should have something to do with CouchSurfing either directly or indirectly.
• Commercials and solicitations discouraged. It's okay to include sponsor messages in your videos, so long as they are not the focus of the video.
• We encourage freedom of expression! However, hateful, abusive, pornographic, or illegal videos will be removed (same rules as YouTube).

Creating Video Thumbnails

It's important to create a thumbnail image for your video for the convenience of all members.

1. Surf to your video on YouTube or Google Video
2. Find the thumbnail they created for your video
   • YouTube: It's middle column under the the "Related" tab. It's highlighted at the top of the list of thumbnails
   • Google Video: It's in the right column under the video info. It's highlighted at the top of the list of thumbnails
3. Save their thumbnail to your computer
   • Right click (Mac control-click) the thumbnail image
   • Choose "Save Image As..." from the menu that appears
4. Upload the image file to the CS Wiki
   • If you don't know how to use the wiki, start here.
   • Specify a descriptive file name and summary (here's an example image)
   • Remember the file name you gave your image
5. Add your thumbnail along with the link to your video to the Member submitted videos page.

Adding Your Video

• If you don't know how to use the wiki, start here.
• Place links to new videos at the top of the Member Videos section.
• Do not directly your embed video. The page will become too long and too large if everyone embeds their video.
• Include all of the following information with each submission.
  1. Thumbnail image of video
  2. Thumbnail caption (video title)
  3. Link to video on YouTube or Google Video including the title of the video
  4. Date
  5. Producer name (name should like to producers CS Username if applicable)
  6. Length (Running time in minutes and seconds)
  7. Description of video (keep it brief)

About Featured Videos

Anyone can submit videos to CouchSurfing, however the featured videos that are displayed on the main videos page are selected by CS volunteers. If you would like to choose featured videos, please join the team.

Videos on the Wiki

You can also directly embed any YouTube or Google Video into other pages on the CS Wiki.