RedNote has recruited American influencers to promote the app amid the uncertainty of the TikTok Ban

Like the future of TikTok it hangs in the balanceXiaohonghshu, better known as RedNote in English, is trying to capitalize its new popularity partnering with American influencers who can help promote the company and bring more Americans onto their platform. The Chinese lifestyle and travel app, which has more than 300 million mostly monthly active users, shot to the top of the US app store charts last week as the ban on TikTok. he approached.

In a campaign brief obtained by WIRED, Solare Global, a New York City-based marketing agency, invited creators to make sponsored posts for RedNote, with videos of themselves telling their followers about the sudden increase in Chinese app in the United States. The brief asked the 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 RedNote accounts and encourage their followers to join them on the platform.

Xiaohongshu did not return a request for comment sent to his official WeChat account. Solare Global also did not respond to a request for comment asking how many influencers they contacted or how much the company expected to pay per post.

The summary seen by WIRED asked creators to turn their videos on a 24-hour timeline to ensure they were uploaded by January 17. the same day The Supreme Court will decide whether the ban on TikTok will take effect two days later. It also stipulated that influencers must leave their videos for a minimum of six months.

Xiaohongshu was founded in 2013 and has long focused mainly on courting the domestic public in China, especially young women living in major 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 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 is required to adhere to strict censorship rules dictated by Beijing. (WIRED reported earlier that Xiaohongshu was scrambling 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 a separate video app he called us Douyin.

The influx of Americans into Xiaohongshu has provided a rare opportunity for people in the United States and China to connect on a shared social networking platform. Some users spend hours asking their new overseas pen pals questions about their respective countries and cultures, ranging from what school lunch is like in Wisconsin to what a typical apartment in Chengdu looks like. Now it seems that Xiaohongshu is trying to capitalize on those feelings to promote itself as a positive and global platform.

“The warmth of normal people being kind and curious about each other is the core feeling at the moment,” the influencer said. “And we think that’s a great thing.”