In the days leading up to the January 19 deadline for TikTok, users in the U.S. scrambled to find alternatives. But instead of YouTube, X, or Instagra

The secret sauce of Chinese social media apps

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2025-01-24 14:00:07

In the days leading up to the January 19 deadline for TikTok, users in the U.S. scrambled to find alternatives. But instead of YouTube, X, or Instagram, the so-called TikTok refugees flocked to Chinese apps such as Xiaohongshui Xiaohongshu Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book” in Chinese, is a lifestyle e-commerce and social media platform.READ MORE , and another ByteDance product, Lemon8, which uses a recommendation algorithm similar to that of TikTok.

In trying out Chinese apps as a form of protest — language barrier be damned — many of TikTok’s 170 million American users discovered the same features that had made TikTok so appealing: an infinite scroll of hyper-targeted recommendations, and interactions with friendly strangers. Xiaohongshu, one of China’s most popular lifestyle social networks, quickly became the most downloaded app on Apple’s U.S. App Store, followed by Lemon8. A key driver behind the success of Chinese apps is that they have integrated e-commerce into their platforms, blending entertainment and networking with sales to monetize their famously addictive algorithms, according to Chinese social media experts and marketing firms. The platforms also continually surface fresh, engaging content, not only fueling binge-watching but also exposing users to new trends and shopping opportunities.

“TikTok’s algorithm is so good and so influential that it became a very powerful social media platform that attracted a lot of people,” Mandy Hu, director of the Centre for Consumer Insights and associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Rest of World. “[Their e-commerce] business model was a way to cash in on the popularity.”