With the pending ban of ByteDance’s popular short form content platform TikTok, which is set to take place pending a sale to a United States entity on January 19th, a new TikTok-style app is gaining popularity on the App Store.
An alternative app called Rednote has burst onto the scene and has found it’s way all the way to the top of the App Store charts within the United States. Also known as Xiaohongshu (which translates to ‘little red book’), XHS, REDnote, or RED, is has a similar layout to Pinterest and was founded back in 2013 as a shopping platform where users could review products and share retail experiences.
REDnote eventually evolved into a social media app and has served as a digital home for many Chinese influencers, primarily within the health, beauty, and fashion niches and has been described as “China’s answer to Instagram” by the South China Morning Post.
With TikTok’s future in serious jeopardy, it is no surprise to see apps such as REDnote pop up to fill an impending void in the content creation and social entertainment fields.
