With TikTok's future hanging in the balance, Xiaohonghshu, better known as RedNote in English, is looking to capitalize on its newfound popularity by partnering with American influencers who can help promote the company and get more Americans onto its platform. The Chinese lifestyle and travel app, which has more than 300 million mostly monthly active users, soared to the top of the US app store charts last week as the TikTok ban loomed.
In a campaign letter obtained by WIRED, Solare Global, a New York City-based marketing agency, pitched creators on creating sponsored posts for RedNote, with videos telling their followers about the Chinese app's sudden rise in the US. The brief asked the creators to describe “how fun and engaging the app is” and “highlight its user-friendly design and international appeal.” It also instructed them to share their own RedNote accounts and encourage their followers to join them on the platform.
Xiaohongshu did not return a request for comment on his official WeChat account. Solare Global also did not respond to a request for comment asking how many influencers they had contacted or how much the company expected to pay per post.
WIRED's order required creators to publish their videos on a 24-hour timeline to ensure they would appear online on January 17, the same day the Supreme Court would decide whether the TikTok ban would take effect two days later. It also stipulated that influencers had to keep their videos up for at least six months.
Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu has long focused on reaching domestic audiences in China, especially young women living in big cities. Like TikTok, it revolves around a central algorithm that recommends users an endless stream of posts based on their interests and behavior. But instead of showing people one video at a time, Xiaohongshu presents slideshows of photos, text messages, and videos in a grid format.
But perhaps the biggest difference between the two apps is the way they handle content moderation. Because it is accessible in China, Xiaohongshu must adhere to strict censorship rules imposed by Beijing. (WIRED previously reported that Xiaohongshu had difficulty hiring English-speaking moderators to help manage the flood of content posted by Americans.) TikTok, on the other hand, is not available in China. Parent company ByteDance operates a separate video app there called Douyin.
The influx of Americans on Xiaohongshu provided a rare opportunity for people in the US and China to connect on a shared social media platform. Some users spent hours asking their new foreign pen pals questions about their respective countries and cultures, ranging from what school lunch looks like in Wisconsin to what a typical apartment looks like in Chengdu. It now appears that Xiaohongshu is trying to capitalize on these sentiments to promote itself as a positive, global platform.
“The warmth of normal people who are kind and curious about each other is the core sentiment there right now,” said the influencer. “And we think it's a beautiful thing.”
