What is Rednote?

As the potential TikTok Ban approaches (currently scheduled for 19th Jan) a big shift has occurred in the Creator Economy. Brands had hoped to see a flood of users return to Meta owned apps like Instagram.

Instead an unknown app, Rednote is currently (5 days before the ban) the Number 1 app in the App Store.

What is Rednote?

RedNote, known in China as Xiaohongshu (meaning "Little Red Book"), is a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform founded in 2013 by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao. 70% of the platform users are reportedly born after 1990, and nearly 70% of them are female. (Wiki)

The platform, has financial backing from Chinese tech monopolies Tencent and Alibaba, and approx 300million active users. But in the past 48hours it has captured the zeitgeist by TikTok Creators who look to find a new space, one that isn’t tainted by Meta/Zuckerberg ownership.

It is evident that this is a Protest Vote and not just a search for a new app.

Data Concerns

Whilst the US political system has cited Data concerns as the motivating factor in banning TikTok, little has been mentioned of the data transparency of Rednote, and users are signing up in vast numbers. As RedNote is relatively new to the U.S. market public awareness of its data practices is still developing.

Many of the key features and terms are currently presented in Mandarin and it is unlikely many US users are fully aware of what Data Practise they are signing up to.

Little is also currently known about its Content Policy, what imagery, topics and terms are acceptable and which will be moderated or result in user bans. Brands looking to jump into this new space face potential damage and loss of equity navigating the cultural nuances.

Why is this relevant to Content Studios or Brand Content?

This sudden and unpredicted shift, is yet another evolution of the Creator Community, one that Brands may need to react to and learn from. This is an unknown space and not without risk for Western Brands. Will the creator economy continue to be one step ahead of brand content, and what impact will this have on the shape of content creation in 2025?

In-House Studios Struggled with TikTok Content

In the TikTok app, immediate, fast and loose content was prioritised. Authenticity and humour were key drivers, areas that brands consistently struggle to find a voice with. Solo creators resonated much more than brand accounts (with some notable exceptions).

Behind The Scenes and storytelling content held more value than final polished deliverables - an area that in-house studios failed to plan for and capitalise on.

The long lead times for planned brand content (when even 72 hours is considered slow in social media terms) was fine for Instagram but a real factor in brand failure on TikTok.

Many brands missed the content revolution that occurred on TikTok, slow to react and unable to capitalise with relevant content that engaged and built community.

Instagram vs TikTok

Instagram for many brands, is a SafeSpace, known, navigable, more easily promoted with sponsored posts, and where influencers tend to get slightly more consistency. (Although any social media manager will be happy to discuss the apps failings).

TikTok was even less controllable than Instagram, its design put the power in the hand of the User. Its algorithm prioritised engagement over the paid posts of Instagram.

Users know the Instagram feed is broken and the experience is unsatisfying, and the algorithm doesn’t deliver, whether it can be fixed in 2025 remains to be seen.

Why is this relevant to Studio Content Creation?

As solo creators built entire communities 2024 was the year when niche micro trends really impacted the existing US and EU fashion model. Content creators were able to make vast amounts of relevant and engaging, low budget but high value content, in a way that most in-house Brand Studios were simply not able to match.

Brands found themselves increasingly detached from their customer. To read more on this I recommend following Joanna Williams.

Will Rednote be the new TikTok?

Of course it is far too early to see with any certainty but what can be learned from the past week is that governments will struggle to effectively harness the spending power and attention of a younger generation of creators through legislation.

The creator community is also very focused on rejecting Meta owned products at the start of 2025, and Fashion brands may do well to pay attention to this factor when creating their content plans.

Will brands need to adapt with content strategies for Rednote? Unlikely at this point, but they will need to learn how to engage with a very active and wary audience.

What could that look like for Content Creation in the next quarter? What app will truly be TikToks successor and how should brands prepare for the next wave of content platforms?