TikTok users are rushing to stake their claim on Chinese social e-commerce app RedNote

A strange phenomenon is sweeping through social media as the last days of TikTok in the US begin to unfold. As most of the 170 million American TikTok users await its ever-encroaching end-of-service date, some are jumping ship early to the next big social media app where they can continue to pursue their dreams of hitting the internet jackpot. But these so-called TikTok refugees aren’t moving their short-form videos to Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube; instead, they’re moving to another Chinese social media app.

If you have recently taken a look at the Google Play Store, you might have noticed a new face at the top of the most popular apps: RedNote. If you’ve never heard of RedNote before this week, you’re not alone, but hundreds of thousands of new users have flocked to the 300-million-strong social media site in the past few days and the tide doesn’t appear to be slowing.

What is RedNote?

RedNote is kind of like a cross between Instagram and Pinterest with short-form videos thrown in for fun. The official name of the app is Xiaohongshu (小红书) and translates literally as Little Red Book. Because that’s the name of a book of quotations by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, the western name has been shortened to simply RedNote, but it’s also commonly referred to as XHS.

One thing RedNote isn’t is a TikTok clone. It started in 2013 as a way to share shopping and product reviews. In 2014, it started selling stuff, in 2016 it partnered with Alibaba, and in 2017 it launched an international logistics company. In 2018, it was valued at $3 billion. As of last July, it was worth over $17 billion and brought in annual profits of over $500 million. Those aren’t quite Fortune 500 numbers, but that puts RedNote in the same company as Prada and Southwest Airlines.

How to join RedNote?

If you want to get in on the action, you can either use a phone number (the US is country code 1) or your Gmail account. You’ll be asked to provide your age, gender, and select at least four interests before you can jump in. The feed is filled with lots of western content creators at the moment that give off strong vacation vibes, but that may change in the future. Duolingo reports that it has seen a spike of over 200% growth in users learning Mandarin.

Why RedNote?

There doesn’t appear to be any direct cause for this mass migration to RedNote but it seems to have started over the weekend. Most users are likely jumping ship for the chance to be a first mover in a new market, but others seem to be making a statement. A common sentiment among TikTok users is the belief that US tech giants are behind the TikTok ban and the move to RedNote (a Chinese-run company, like TikTok) is an expression of their displeasure.

Although RedNote’s star is definitely rising at the moment, it could be subject to the same law that is likely to bring TikTok down. In other words, if you want to see what the hype is about, you better get on the train now.