Sentiment Analysis on Social Media Review Texts from the Perspective of Appraisal Theory: A Case Study of Tao Tao Ju Brand on Xiaohongshu

Abstract

: In the digital era, social media platforms have become vital arenas for brand image co-construction, yet computational sentiment analysis often lacks the linguistic depth to interpret the nuanced mechanisms behind emotional expression, particularly for time-honored brands. This study bridges this gap by integrating Appraisal Theory with quantitative text mining to analyze 4,176 user comments about the heritage catering brand "Tao Tao Ju" on Xiaohongshu. Employing ROST CM6 and ROST EA for sentiment polarity, word frequency, and semantic network analysis, alongside a qualitative manual coding of Attitude, Graduation, and Engagement resources, the research yields several key findings. Results indicate that overall sentiment is predominantly positive (68.1%), centered on Appreciation of culinary offerings and nostalgic ambiance, but a significant cluster of negative Judgment (23.6%) targets service inefficiency. The semantic network reveals a structural decoupling between product and service evaluations. Theoretically, this study demonstrates the feasibility of an interdisciplinary "data-to-discourse" framework, while practically, it provides a precise diagnostic tool and strategic content suggestions for the digital transformation of heritage brands.