On the heels of TikTok’s impending shutdown on January 19 due to its US ownership (unless the Supreme Court intervenes), it appears another Chinese app is getting attention. US users are flocking to Chinese short video app apple.com/us/app/%E5%B0%8F%E7%BA%A2%E4%B9%A6/id741292507″>Xiaohongshu (known as RedNote in English). The application today rose to first place among free applications on the American App Store. It is also the best social networking app among all free iPhone apps.
Several TikTok creators promote Xiaohongshu on their accounts, encouraging their followers to switch to the platform. Influencers may not have the crystal ball to predict whether TikTok will withstand a ban, but Xiaohongshu gives them a way to hedge their social bets.
(We are studying the installation numbers and will update this article with more data as we get it.)
Why Xiaohongshu?
Xiaohongshu was originally launched in 2013 and is perfect for creators looking for an alternative to TikTok: its layout is similar to Pinterest; it is generally considered China’s answer to Instagram; And even better, it has a number of social shopping features.
And it also followed a strong viral trajectory. After a few years of steady growth, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Xiaohongshu saw a surge among young Chinese consumers. It now has 300 million monthly active users, 79% of whom are women. And so far, it’s the best app in the United States.
Unsurprisingly, the startup has also attracted the attention of investors. To date, it has raised some $917 million in venture capital, from backers including Tencent, Alibaba, ZhenFund, DST, HongShan (formerly Sequoia China) and around 30 others. It would have been valued at $17 billion following a secondary sale of shares in 2024.
According to a Bloomberg report, the app is expected to grow its profits to over $1 billion in 2024 (it hit quarterly revenue of $1 billion last year, according to this FT report), in anticipation of a possible IPO. This growth not only demonstrates the potential of the application, but also hints at the promising opportunities it could offer its creators.
It’s unclear whether Xiaohongshu will maintain the interest it currently has. And if so, it also remains to be seen what this might mean in terms of control by US authorities, given that Xiaohongshu not only hails from China, but apparently has no pretensions to ‘be active in the United States.
Meanwhile, it is worth noting that TikTok users have not recommended apps from TikTok’s biggest rival in the country, which is going through its own drama. Meta recently announced that its line of social apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, would relax its content moderation policies, ending its third-party fact-checking, raising concerns about the potential spread hateful content and disinformation on its platforms. .
