As TikTok’s future hangs in the balance, Xiaohonghshu, better known as RedNote in English, is trying to capitalize on its newfound popularity by partnering with American influencers who can help promote the company and attract more Americans to its platform. The Chinese travel and lifestyle app, which has more than 300 million active, mostly monthly users, jumped to the top of US app store charts last week as it moved closer the TikTok ban.
In a campaign brief obtained by WIRED, Solare Global, a New York City-based marketing agency, proposed creators make sponsored posts for RedNote, featuring videos of themselves telling their followers about the sudden rise of the Chinese app in the US. The report asked creators to describe “how fun and engaging the app is” and “emphasize its user-friendly design and international appeal.” He also instructed them to share their own RedNote accounts and encourage their followers to join them on the platform.
Xiaohongshu did not respond to a request for comment sent to his official WeChat account. Solare Global also did not respond to a request for comment on how many influencers they contacted or how much the company expected to pay per post.
The brief seen by WIRED required creators to change their videos on a 24-hour schedule to ensure they were uploaded by Jan. 17, the same day the Supreme Court was set to decide whether the TikTok ban would go into effect two days later. It also stipulated that influencers must leave their videos posted for a minimum of six months.
Xiaohongshu was founded in 2013 and has long focused primarily on courting domestic audiences in China, particularly young women living in major cities. Like TikTok, it revolves around a core algorithm that recommends an endless stream of posts to users based on their interests and behavior. But instead of showing people one video at a time, Xiaohongshu presents slideshows of photos, text posts, and videos in a grid format.
But perhaps the biggest difference between the two apps is how they handle content moderation. Because it is accessible in China, Xiaohongshu must comply with strict censorship rules dictated by Beijing. (WIRED previously reported that Xiaohongshu was struggling to hire English-speaking moderators to help manage the flood of content posted by Americans.) TikTok, on the other hand, is not available in China. Its parent company, ByteDance, operates an independent video app called Douyin.
The influx of Americans to Xiaohongshu provided a unique opportunity for people in the US and China to connect on a shared social media platform. Some users spent hours asking their new overseas pen pals questions about their respective countries and cultures, from what school lunch is like in Wisconsin to what a typical apartment in Chengdu is like. Now it seems that Xiaohongshu is trying to capitalize on those sentiments to promote itself as a positive global platform.
“The warmth of normal people being kind and curious about each other is the core feeling right now,” the influencer’s report said. “And we think it’s a beautiful thing.”