The truth is, the app doesn’t also have a good English translation of its personal identify: Xiaohongshu is the simply the phonetic translation of its Chinese language identify. 小红书. Whereas the literal translation “little purple guide” might remind English-speaking customers of former Chinese language chief Mao Zedong’s assortment of speeches and propaganda slogans by the identical identify, it has a special connotation in China, the place customers interpret it as a supply of dependable user-generated suggestions for mundane issues, like which restaurant to go to or which beauty product to purchase.
The current inflow of American customers has definitely caught the eye of Xiaohongshu’s current consumer base. David Yang, a current grasp’s program graduate from China at present dwelling in Paris, abruptly discovered his Xiaohongshu feed stuffed with American customers on Sunday. He had beforehand seen some non-Chinese language creators deliberately coming to the platform to draw Chinese language followers, however nothing at this scale.
Now, when he scrolls his Xiaohongshu residence web page, about one quarter of the content material is from so-called TikTok refugees, in accordance with a display screen recording he shared. “A few of them are asking what Chinese language individuals consider sure points, just like the USA, LGBT, or different social points. And a few are inviting Chinese language customers to ask them questions. And a few are simply utilizing the app like they use TikTok and put up something they discover attention-grabbing,” Yang tells WIRED. The focus of real private content material shared by regular individuals relatively than polished influencers was refreshing, he added.
Chinese language Xiaohongshu customers are fascinated by the inflow of recent voices. Most of them, particularly those that converse English, are extending a welcoming hand, liking the movies posted by TikTok refugees and following their accounts. Some are taking the time to attempt to clarify how the app works to individuals who discover it laborious to navigate because of the language barrier.
Sarah Fotheringham, a TikTok consumer since 2021 from Utah, tells WIRED she’s having a surprisingly good time at Xiaohongshu regardless of counting on Google Translate to make use of the platform. For her first two days on the app, she has spent a couple of hours every day and posted 4 movies, the final one explaining the US faculty lunch to Chinese language customers. “Individuals have reached out to supply assist in each approach, from navigating the app, including subtitles to movies, and translations,” Fotheringham says. “One touch upon my video was from a Chinese language consumer. She stated, ‘wow it is like wanting over the Chinese language wall.’ And for me, it has been my first time seeing in.”
“Many of the [new Xiaohongshu users] are in all probability within the curiosity part. I feel moments of cultural shock or controversies might emerge as time goes on, however that might be a part of the method for them to know one another on a deeper stage,” Yang says.
