ARTA – New users flooded Chinese social media app RedNote, days before a planned U.S. ban on TikTok. The little-known company is trying to take advantage of the sudden surge in users while trying to navigate the challenges of moderating English-language content.
ar on RedNote, Monday, January 13, on the live chat titled “TikTok Refugees” reached more than 50,000 American and Chinese users.
Also, veteran Chinese users, albeit a little confused, welcomed their American counterparts and exchanged views on topics such as food and youth unemployment. However, sometimes American users hint at more sensitive topics.
“Can we ask for legal differences between China and Hong Kong? » asked an American user. “We would prefer not to discuss it here,” replied a Chinese user.
al, such spontaneous cultural exchange occurred through RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu. The app skyrocketed to the top of the U.S. download chart this week as American social media users searched for an alternative to TikTok, an app owned by ByteDance, ahead of a ban that will soon take effect.
akashu told Reuters: “In two days, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu,” a source close to the company told Reuters, as cited by VOI. Downloads of RedNote in the United States increased more than 200% from the previous year and 194% from the previous week, according to estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower .
ByteDance’s Lemon8 also saw a similar surge last month, with downloads up 190% in December to around 3.4 million.
ile among users seems surprising for RedNote. Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the company is working to moderate English content and develop English-Mandarin translation tools.
– Unlike other Chinese social apps that have both domestic and international versions, RedNote only has one version of the app for all users, a measure that other Chinese apps rarely have national rules on of moderation.
-However, the company is working to capitalize on this sudden attention as its executives see big opportunities to grow in global popularity like TikTok.
anite, brought by venture capital and with the latest valuation of 17 billion US dollars (277.7 trillion IDR), allows users to count photos, videos and texts about their lives. The app has also become a de facto search engine for more than 300 million users looking for travel advice, anti-aging products and restaurant recommendations.
an: Shares of several Chinese companies listed on RedNote, such as Hangzhou Onechance Tech Corp., jumped 20% on Tuesday, January 14, hitting its daily limit.
year on U.S. users occurred ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds. TikTok is currently used by about 170 million Americans, about half the country’s population, and is very popular among young people and advertisers.
rique: “Americans using RedNote seem to be a symbol of resistance against the U.S. government which is seen as too involved in business and private lives,” said Stella Kittrell, 29, a content creator from Baltimore, Maryland. .
rénal.com/lllrénal.com/lrénal. Some users said they joined the platform to find alternatives from Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, as well as Elon Musk’s X. Many doubt that they can rebuild their TikTok subscriber base in these apps.
ina Terence: “It’s not the same thing: Instagram, X, or other apps,” said Brian Atabansi, 29, a business analyst and content creator from San Diego, California. “Because TikTok is more organic for building a community,” he added.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
(system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
