What is RedNote? The Chinese app, aka Xiaohongshu, TikTokkers are flocking to

If the U.S. government wants to ban TikTok, Americans might flock to a different Chinese social media app. About a week before the potential ban, TikTokkers are posting about moving to RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu. So many are migrating to the app that it hit No. 1 on Apple’s U.S. App Store on Monday.

Yes, TikTok might really be on its way out. It’s unclear exactly what would immediately happen to the app on the Jan. 19 deadline — it’ll likely at least disappear from app stores and stop receiving updates. The government could also ask internet service providers to block access, or TikTok itself could choose to leave. So perhaps it could be time to move to RedNote if that’s indeed where TikTokkers are headed. 

But don’t worry, we’ve got the details on what you need to know about RedNote.

What is RedNote?

In short: It’s a short-form video social media site. Well, duh. But it’s not precisely the same thing as TikTok. As dupes like YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels have shown, it’s difficult for any site to copy the success and addictive nature of TikTok, exactly.

However, Xiaohongshu is quite popular and growing. It’s currently topping Apple’s App Store in downloads as people rush to find a replacement for TikTok. 

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TechCrunch noted that while RedNote is laid out more like Pinterest and is sometimes seen as China’s version of Instagram, it does rely on short-form video content like TikTok. Many folks use it for shopping or the type of content you might already see on TikTok, such as beauty tutorials. TechCrunch reported that it has 300 million monthly active users, which is a large figure but still many hundreds of millions less than TikTok. 

Why is RedNote blowing up?

As we’ve noted, RedNote is gaining popularity because TikTok might be on its way out in the United States. However, the Chinese site might be gaining popularity, partly, to spite the U.S. government’s attempt to ban TikTok, an app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. After all, how better for TikTokkers to stick it to “the man” than to popularize a different Chinese app?

Look across TikTok and other social media sites, and you’ll see people posting about RedNote. Many of the posts have generated large numbers of views.

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It’s difficult to project if RedNote will actually sustain popularity in the U.S. And, of course, Reels, Shorts, as well as other upstarts like Lemon8 will look to siphon TikTokkers.

But it’ll certainly be interesting to track where folks head if the ban does happen in just a few days.