New users have piled in to Chinese social media app RedNote just days before a proposed U.S. ban on the popular social media app TikTok, as the lesser-known company rushes to capitalize on the sudden influx while walking a delicate line of moderating English-language content, sources told Reuters.
Reuters
In a live chat dubbed “TikTok Refugees” on RedNote on Monday, more than 50,000 American and Chinese users joined the room.
Veteran Chinese users, with some sense of bewilderment, welcomed their American counterparts and swapped notes with them on topics like food and youth unemployment.
Occasionally, however, the Americans veered into riskier territory.
“Is it ok to ask about how laws are different in China versus Hong Kong?” one American user asked. “We prefer not to talk about that here,” a Chinese user responded.
Such impromptu cultural exchanges were taking place all across RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu, as the app surged to the top of U.S. download rankings this week. Its popularity was driven by American social media users casting about for an alternative to ByteDance-owned TikTok days ahead of its looming ban.
In only two days, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, a person close to the company told Reuters. Xiaohongshu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. downloads of RedNote were up more than 200% year-over-year this week, and 194% from the week prior, according to estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower.
The second most-popular free app on Apple‘s App Store list on Tuesday, Lemon8, another social media app owned by ByteDance, experienced a similar surge last month, with downloads jumping by 190% in December to about 3.4 million. The influx appeared to catch RedNote by surprise, with two sources familiar with the company telling Reuters they were scrambling to find ways to moderate English-language content and build English-Chinese translation tools.
RedNote maintains only one version of its app, rather than splitting it into overseas and domestic apps – a rarity among Chinese social apps that are subject to domestic moderation rules.
Still, the company is keen to mine the sudden rush of attention, as executives see it as a potential path to achieve global popularity similar to TikTok’s.
RedNote, a venture capital-backed startup with a most recent valuation of $17 billion, allows users to curate photos, videos and text documenting their lives. It has been viewed as a possible IPO candidate in China.
In recent years, it has become a de facto search engine for its 300 million-plus users looking for travel tips, anti-aging creams and restaurant recommendations.
The share prices of some China-listed companies that conduct businesses with RedNote, such as Hangzhou Onechance Tech Corp, surged as much as 20% on Tuesday, hitting the daily limit.
The spike in U.S. users comes ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. on national security grounds.
TikTok is currently used by about 170 million Americans, roughly half of the country’s population, and is overwhelmingly popular with young people and the advertisers looking to reach them.
“Americans using Rednote feels like a cheeky middle finger to the U.S. government for its overreach into businesses and privacy concerns,” said Stella Kittrell, 29, a content creator based in Baltimore, Maryland. She said she joined RedNote in hopes of further collaborations with Chinese companies which she found helpful.
Some users said they joined the platform to seek alternatives to Meta Platforms-owned Facebook and Instagram, and to Elon Musk’s X. Some expressed doubt that they could rebuild their TikTok follower base on those apps.
“It’s not the same: Instagram, X, or any other app,” said Brian Atabansi, 29, a business analyst and content creator based in San Diego, California. “Mainly because of how organic it is to build community on TikTok,” he said.
German retail sales rose in 2024, but growth should be more modest this year due to the high level of uncertainty, according to retail association HDE.
Last year, retail sales rose 1.1% compared to the previous year in inflation-adjusted terms, official data showed on Friday. The HDE forecasts 0.5% growth in real terms this year.
“Consumption and the retail sector in Germany will not really gain momentum in 2025 either,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth. “There is simply too much uncertainty,” he said. “Wars, high energy costs and overall economic stagnation are a toxic cocktail for consumption.”
In nominal terms, retail sales rose by 2.5% in 2024 and are expected to grow by 2.0% in 2025, according to HDE’s forecast.
The latest HDE survey with 700 retailers shows that 22% of respondents expect sales to increase this year, while almost half of them expect results to be below the previous year’s level.
In December, retail sales fell by 1.6% compared with the previous month, official data showed. Analysts had predicted a 0.2% increase.
Many big names in UK retail had a good Christmas season — despite the sector being generally sluggish — but it seems John Lewis Partnership (JLP) may not have been one of them.
The retailer — which operates its eponymous department stores and webstore, plus Waitrose supermarkets — has missed its profit target after a disappointing festive season.
It hasn’t shared any info officially but internal documents seen by The Telegraph suggest bad news to come when it does release its results.
Those internal documents have only been shared with staff so far with the company saying that sales have fallen short of expectations and it’s unlikely to achieve its hoped-for £131 million full-year profit.
The company is said to have blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for the sales miss in the month to 21 December, although also the fact that key trading days fell outside the period.
Sales targets were missed at both of the firm’s chains, although the newspaper said it still claimed it outperformed rivals and staff should be “proud of our performance”.
It will be interesting therefore to see exactly what its figures were as a number of rivals have actually reported a good Christmas. If its stores have beaten other supermarkets and chains like M&S, perhaps its targets were too ambitious in the first place.
We won’t know for a while, but we do know that with M&S resurgent, JLP’s supermarkets and department stores have lost some of their lustre as the destination of choice for Britain’s middle classes.
So what were the firm’s benchmarks? Back in September it had said it was seeing strong demand and expected a significant rise in profits for the year to January. The prior year’s pre-tax profit had been £56 million and the year before that it made a loss.
It had also talked about its turnaround efforts paying off and that it was seeing a “considerable improvement” in performance, with the John Lewis chain in particular expected to benefit from a buoyant second half.
It’s been rumoured for some time that he would exit the label but it’s not yet known what his next step will be.
Jones has been widely praised for his work at Dior with his latest men’s collection shown this month being hailed as a success.
He’s been a key creative at LVMH having also designed its Fendi women’s collections. And he helmed Louis Vuitton’s menswear before he joined Dior.
The company said it “wishes to express its deepest gratitude” to the designer “who has accelerated the development of Men’s collections internationally and has greatly contributed to the worldwide influence of the House by creating an inspiring wardrobe that is both classic and contemporary, and connected to some artists of our time”.
And Delphine Arnault, who’s chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture,added: “I am extremely grateful for the remarkable work done by Kim Jones, his studio, and the ateliers. With all his talent and creativity, he has constantly reinterpreted the House’s heritage with genuine freedom of tone and surprising, highly desirable artistic collaborations.”
Jones meanwhile called it a “true honour to have been able to create my collections within the House of Dior, a symbol of absolute excellence. I express my deep gratitude to my studio and the ateliers who have accompanied me on this wonderful journey. They have brought my creations to life. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the artists and friends I have met through my collaborations. Lastly, I feel sincere gratitude towards Bernard and Delphine Arnault, who have given me their full support.”
Entertainment8 years ago