RedNote’s Global Expansion: Challenges and Opportunities for the TikTok Alternative.

RedNote or Xiaohongshu in China, is a photo and short video based social network that somewhat resembles a hybrid of Instagram and Pinterest, where users share lifestyles through posting text, photos, and videos. The popular social platform today has about 300 million MAUs.
Recently, RedNote has seen its downloads skyrocket to be the top free app in the United States on the Apple App Store. This comes after American users began downloading alternatives over a potential TikTok ban. Such users, popularly referred to as “TikTok refugees, are moving to the site en masse to keep sharing and consuming their favourite short-form videos.
But RedNote, despite its growing following, has a fair share of its own set of challenges: its content is mainly in Mandarin and does not offer a translation feature yet, and being Chinese-owned, RedNote could find itself under a regulatory microscope by the U.S. government in a similar vein to how the latter has been casting an eye over TikTok for data privacy and national security reasons. RedNote offers a platform for lifestyle content sharing and has recently gained traction among U.S. users seeking alternatives to TikTok.
However language barriers and potential regulatory challenges may impact its adoption and usability in the United States.
RedNote or in its native version known as Xiaohongshu, has recently picked up momentum in the United States but remains relatively inaccessible or functional throughout Africa let alone Kenya. A few users reported having trouble getting the verification code for setting up their accounts, possibly due to potential restrictions to keep people out of the app.
Also, the main language of the app is Chinese and though there is an option to change to English, it does not completely translate all parts which may also present a problem in terms of the language barrier with African users. With these challenges, RedNote is not yet full-scale accessible and user friendly for people in Africa. Those who want to get similar functionality should consider other social media apps like Instagram or Pinterest.