RedNote, one of China’s most popular social platforms, is trying to grow its social media and e-commerce businesses in the U.S. by hiring staff, hosting promotional events in universities, and launching a shopping portal for American consumers.
A year after it went viral as an alternative home for “TikTok refugees,” the app, which is still primarily used by Chinese-speaking populations, is signaling a push into international markets — even though Chinese-owned social media companies like TikTok had suffered political scrutiny.
But experts say RedNote faces an uphill battle breaking into a saturated American social and e-commerce market. Founded in Shanghai in 2013, RedNote — or XiaohongshuiXiaohongshuXiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book” in Chinese, is a lifestyle e-commerce and social media platform.READ MORE in Chinese — has grown from a shopping and lifestyle community to an “everything app,” with more than 300 million monthly active users.
The company is now opening offices in Palo Alto and New York, and hiring for its “founding teams” in the U.S., according to job postings on LinkedIn. The positions include a recruiter, an algorithm engineer, and a community growth manager.
RedNote has several employees already inside the U.S. working on user growth. Starting in March, it began running a series of promotional events at American universities, including Cornell Tech in New York, Northwestern University in Chicago, and University of California, San Diego, according to posts from a RedNote official account. The events invited student creators to hear from RedNote influencers and encouraged them to post on the platform in exchange for plush toys.
The app also introduced a crossborder marketplace called RedShop. The company recently hosted an event in Shenzhen, inviting Chinese merchants to sell to overseas markets including the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada. The first batch of products will include Chinese cultural handicrafts, according to Chinese media reports of the event. U.S. users can currently order products such as Chinese-style ceramics, tote bags featuring Confucius memes, and Pop Mart toys.
RedNote is popular among the Chinese-speaking communities globally. People use it to find travel tips, restaurant reviews, and shopping guides shared by other users.
RedNote connects strangers with common interests through a combination of images, videos, and long-form texts.
RedNote has introduced shopping features to overseas users, with an initial selection of Chinese-style homeware and toys.
RedNote’s interface consists of two columns of recommended posts, with a combination of videos, images, and long-form text. Compared with TikTok and Instagram, it’s less driven by viral videos and more focused on connecting strangers with shared interests. Users discuss topics ranging from bird watching to developments in artificial intelligence. The knowledge RedNote users have shared is so comprehensive that Chinese people use the app as a search engine.
In China, RedNote generates revenue from advertising and e-commerce. It was on track to make a profit of $3 billion in 2025, which would be higher than the profits of Pinterest and Snap, Bloomberg reported in September.
RedNote briefly went viral in the U.S. in early 2025, when the prospect of a TikTok ban encouraged American “TikTok refugees” to get on the app as an alternative. They shared cat memes and recipes with users in China. In response, RedNote added translation features to the app.
“RedNote’s U.S. expansion is a culmination of years of organically building a global footprint through the Chinese diaspora who already use and love the app,” Ivy Yang, founder of the New York-based consultancy Wavelet Strategy, told Rest of World. “The TikTok refugee moment affirmed the thesis that there’s a demographic well beyond Mandarin speakers.”
But analysts say RedNote is still far from challenging the dominance of social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. RedNote does not publish U.S. user numbers, but English-language content is scarce.
Among the “TikTok refugee” accounts, many had stopped posting soon after the RedNote viral moment. Google search interest for RedNote has diminished after January 2025, according to Google Trends.
I think there is a place for RedNote in overseas markets, but it’s going to be with overseas Chinese and a very small minority of local people.”
“[RedNote] needs users, and they don’t have them right now,” Juozas Kaziukenas, an independent e-commerce analyst, told Rest of World. “The question then becomes, how willing are they to allocate probably hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to advertising for years to come to really make an impact.”
Other Chinese e-commerce platforms including Temu and Shein have spent billions of dollars to advertise in the U.S.
Chris Pereira, founder of marketing consultancy iMpact, said the wave of “TikTok refugees” did not lead to continued user growth for RedNote. “The market is hugely saturated,” Pereira told Rest of World. “I think there is a place for RedNote in overseas markets, but it’s going to be with overseas Chinese and a very small minority of local people.”
In 2020, ByteDanceiByteDanceByteDance is a Chinese internet technology company that owns TikTok and Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok with a successful e-commerce arm.READ MORE launched a lifestyle community called Lemon8 — with a similar design to RedNote — in international markets. It has since remained a relatively niche fashion and aesthetics app for young users.
In the U.S., RedNote could also face questions about censorship and data privacy if it grows influential. Unlike TikTok, which is run separately from its Chinese sister app Douyin, RedNote has one platform for both Chinese and overseas users.
The U.S. government has forced ByteDance to sell a stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations, which include Lemon8, and establish a majority American-owned joint venture.
