“These TikTok refugees need to discover an alternate platform owned by a Chinese firm, which is extra Chinese than TikTok,” stated Meng Ziying, a PhD researcher at Australia’s University of Melbourne.
For overseas customers, Xiaohongshu can be extra accessible, in comparison with others like Douyin, the Chinese model of TikTok, which requires a Chinese cell quantity to register an account.
Like TikTok, a part of Xiaohongshu’s attraction lies in its algorithm’s potential to drive site visitors to a creator’s content material whatever the variety of followers.
“The platform helps strange customers in rising their account,” Meng stated.
Professor Min Ye of Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies stated she was “shocked” by the “pace and scale” of TikTok customers’ migration to Xiaohongshu.
“It serves as a humbling reminder, even for a long-term observer of U.S.-China relations, that after we see no viable different however to simply accept an unwelcome or discriminatory consequence, younger customers typically discover progressive methods to adapt and specific their views. They might result in adjustments in each America and China.”
Known as RedNote in English, the app is usually thought-about China’s reply to Instagram and has been the go-to on-line house for Chinese social media customers to observe and reshare quick movies. It can be utilized by manufacturers and companies to host buying movies and stay streaming.
It could be very standard amongst Chinese vacationers, with many journey influencers sharing recommendations on meals, lodging and vacationer hotspots around the globe.
Due to its predominantly feminine person base, make-up tutorials and ladies’s clothes recommendation are additionally standard on the app.
Urban “white-collar” ladies ages 25 to 34 make up almost 70% of the app’s customers, stated Jeffrey Hau, co-founder and director of Prizm Group, a digital advertising and marketing company.
It has gained big followings in different nations similar to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, significantly amongst Chinese-speaking communities.
“Xiaohongshu’s worldwide person base is principally primarily based on Chinese folks residing overseas,” Hau stated. “We consider that is as a result of nature of the content material, which is primarily (hosted) within the Chinese language.”
INTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE
Native customers of Xiaohongshu welcomed the “TikTok refugees”.
“HELLO! TikTok refugee. Welcome,” Chinese person Sara627 stated in a publish sharing primary recommendations on utilizing the social media platform.
With the inflow of recent U.S. customers to Xiaohongshu, observers say a uncommon window has opened for Americans to study extra about China, and vice versa, by direct exchanges and interactions.
By posting selfies and movies, new Xiaohongshu customers started introducing themselves to Chinese customers. Using the search time period “TikTok refugee,” many shared movies documenting their expertise on the app and what satisfied them to make the change.
