Social media startup Xiaohongshu has shot its Chinese app to the top of the iPhone’s US download chart in an unexpected response to short video app TikTok, which is facing a ban this weekend.
Xiaohongshu, which translates as “Little Red Book” but is widely known as RedNote in the US, topped Apple’s free app downloads this week as so-called TikTok refugees flocked to the platform. Ta.
One employee at the Shanghai-based company called the sudden spike in downloads “surprising.” The company has no plans to grow by targeting U.S. users, as the startup is focused on establishing its popularity in China.
Most of the content is in Mandarin, and the app lacks a translation feature to help new users in the US understand posts. This app does not have an official English name.
They added that the company is looking to capitalize on the sudden spike in traffic and may need to change how it reviews content if U.S. influencers start uploading posts.
“Xiaohongshu currently faces the unique challenge of managing a single platform with both Chinese and Western users with vastly different expectations regarding content moderation and freedom of speech, while maintaining compliance with China’s internet regulations.” ,” said Olivia Plotnick, founder of the social media agency. YSocial.
“Rapidly adapting the platform to accommodate the influx of non-Chinese-speaking users would require significant investment and infrastructure changes, which would be inconsistent with Xiaohongshu’s current focus. There is a possibility.”
New users in the U.S. initially focused on introducing themselves to Chinese audiences, identifying themselves as “TikTok refugees” or “TikTok nomads.” One user named Trini posted book recommendations, mirroring the “BookTok” community within TikTok. Meanwhile, another user known as “SoCal Masker” wrote in English and Chinese, “Looking forward to this new opportunity to share my content.”
The sudden influx of users is largely a symbolic shift driven by influencers protesting the US move to ban TikTok, with some viral posts simply switching to another Chinese platform. I’m joking. This “indicates the growing frustration with the meta platform that people thought would benefit from the TikTok ban,” Plotnick said.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is bracing itself for a possible ban unless it finds a non-Chinese buyer by a January 19 deadline and the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the law blocking the app. There is. The court on Friday said it would uphold the ban because ByteDance has close ties to the Chinese government.
For TikTok’s 170 million users in the U.S., this doesn’t mean the platform will disappear immediately, but ByteDance will no longer be able to update the app and performance will suffer.
Xiaohonshu is an Instagram-like app that is extremely popular among young Chinese women who use the platform for travel, food, and beauty tips. It is an important platform for fashion and beauty brands to reach affluent urban consumers through promotions on posts and compensation to influencers. The male user base is also steadily expanding.
The company is profitable and one of the few success stories in China’s internet sector, which has been plagued by bankruptcies and declining valuations. Xiaohongshu is investing in China’s e-commerce business and turning that traffic into a new source of income. Until now, the company has struggled to make significant inroads into e-commerce, a saturated market dominated by Alibaba’s Taobao and Douyin, the Chinese sister version of ByteDance’s TikTok.
Xiaohongshu did not respond to a request for comment.
Recommended
In the summer, Xiaohongshu was valued at $17 billion in a secondary stock sale in which venture capital firm DST Global bought shares from existing investors. At the peak of valuations for Chinese internet startups in 2021, the company was valued at $20 billion in a funding round that included Singapore government-backed investor Temasek.
The FT earlier reported that Xiaohongshu is aiming for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, but is waiting for the Chinese government to clarify its stance on overseas listings of major tech companies.
The company’s IPO plans are complicated by the wealth of information it holds on Chinese consumers, which could subject it to Chinese regulations on cross-border data sharing.
Additional reporting by Hannah Murphy in San Francisco and Gavin Huang in Hong Kong
