As the threat of a US ban on TikTok looms, users are flocking to alternative platforms, propelling Chinese apps Xiaohongshu and Lemon8 to the top of Apple’s iPhone download charts. Dubbed “TikTok refugees,” many users are embracing these apps, which offer distinct features and communities, as they prepare for a potential TikTok shutdown.
Xiaohongshu, known in the US as Red Note, is often described as China’s answer to Instagram. Together with Beijing-based ByteDance, Xiaohongshu is one of just a handful of major Chinese internet unicorns that have yet to make a stock market debut. The app was on track to double net profit to more than $1 billion in 2024, Bloomberg News has reported.
It recently became the most downloaded free app on iOS and entered the top 10 on Google Play for the first time, signaling a dramatic rise in popularity.
Initially launched in 2013 as an online shopping guide by founders Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao, Xiaohongshu has since evolved into a thriving social media platform and e-commerce hub.
Beauty products occupy a significant share on both Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) and TikTok. According to official data from TikTok, the popularity of beauty content on the platform is continuously rising. As many as 71% of TikTok users report that beauty content directly influences their shopping decisions. In the US market, the top-selling category in September was beauty and personal care, with a monthly sales volume of approximately 5.74 million units and revenue exceeding $200 million.
The latest data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, Xiaohongshu’s daily average search volume (QV) reached about 600 million, with monthly active users hitting 300 million. Users born in the 1990s, especially those from first- and second-tier cities, now make up 50% of the platform’s active users. Additionally, nearly 70% of consumers consider Xiaohongshu their primary source for beauty and personal care-related content.
