Elderly people on Couchsurfing.com : self-perception versus community perception

The process of ageing has undergone drastic changes throughout the last decades owing to advancements in medicine, technology, and to improved awareness of good health practices on the part of the elderly and their caregivers. Far from being sedentary members of society as depicted in the collective imagination, mature people in good health seem to be interested in leading a more active life. This is likely to explain the presence of senior members on Couchsurfing.com, a platform traditionally aimed at making traveling easier for younger generations. The present work follows on from previous research conducted in order to profile elderly members of the Couchsurfing.com community by analysing the available demographic data as well as the descriptions. Senior couchsurfers come across as open-minded, easy-going, active individuals who are willing to enjoy life, meet new people, make new friends and exchange ideas. However, since the image one projects does not necessarily reflect their true nature, we deemed it essential to make a shift in perspective and examine the reviews written about elderly people by couchsurfers who met them in person. Thus, we scraped the reviews written about 10,195 senior members and analysed them through Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques.