Rural Image Perception and Spatial Optimization Pathways Based on Social Media Data: A Case Study of Baishe Village—A Traditional Village

The sustainable development of traditional villages faces a core challenge stemming from the disconnect between public perception and spatial planning. To address this issue, this study, taking Baishe Village—a national-level traditional village—as a case study, constructs and applies a “Digital Humanities + Spatial Analysis” research paradigm that integrates text mining, sentiment analysis, visual coding, and spatial analysis based on multimodal social media data (Sina Weibo and Xiaohongshu) from 2013 to 2023. It aims to conduct an in-depth analysis of tourists’ rural image perception structure, emotional tendencies, and their spatial differentiation characteristics, and subsequently propose spatial optimization pathways that promote the revitalization of its cultural landscape and sustainable land use. The main findings reveal the following: (1) In terms of cognitive structure, the rural image presents a ‘settlement-dominated’ four-dimensional structure, with settlement elements such as pit kilns (accounting for more than 70%) as the absolute core. (2) In terms of emotional tendencies, a cognitive tension is formed between the high recognition of architectural heritage value (positive sentiment: 57.44%) and significant dissatisfaction with service facilities. (3) In terms of spatial patterns, a “dual-core-driven” pattern of perceived hotspots emerges, with 83% of tourist activities concentrated in the central–southern main road area, revealing a “revitalization gap” in village spatial utilization. The contribution of this study lies in translating abstract public perceptions into quantifiable spatial insights, thereby constructing and validating a “Digital Humanities + Spatial Analysis” paradigm that fuses multimodal data and links abstract perception with concrete space. This provides a crucial theoretical basis and practical guidance for the living conservation of cultural landscapes, the enhancement of land use efficiency, and refined spatial governance.