The RedNote honeymoon won't last
+ A furry chlorine attack, ChatGPT sex, work monitoring software, and how Facebook became a woman-only app
I’m finally back in the U.S. after a couple weeks abroad. I’m extremely jet lagged (my night and day are basically reversed), but I’m heading to D.C. this weekend to cover some stuff around the inauguration. If you see anything interesting going on, please reach out!
Let’s talk about RedNote
Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, has skyrocketed to popularity as people seek a new app to connect with others ahead of the TikTok ban. The Chinese app is less a TikTok clone and more of an Instagram meets Pinterest, featuring aspirational content and “exquisite moms.” While TikTok prioritizes discourse and viral moments, RedNote is more about social shopping, encouraging users to create and share content tied to specific products.
Black creators on TikTok started promoting the app using hashtags like #TikTokRefugees and #rednote ahead of the ban, and the posts resonated, especially with other young women of color, who have long driven trends on social platforms. RedNote downloads soon exploded and the app hit number one in the app store on Tuesday.
The story has gone extremely viral because of the irony: A TikTok ban aimed at limiting “Chinese influence” has funneled users to an actual Chinese app, with thousands of users making jokes about happily handing over their data to China, because they trust China more than the U.S. government.
There are viral videos all over of U.S. users unlearning decades of propaganda about Chinese people, Chinese people and people in the U.S. comparing medical and grocery store bills, and teaching each other to say obscene phrases like “raw, next question.” American and Chinese internet users “are accidentally cobbling together a techno-utopian version of the ‘global village.’” I do love this one girl.
RedNote’s overnight popularity shows how American tech companies will continue to compete with China’s increasingly dominant platforms. Apps like TikTok, Shein, and now RedNote have consistently outpaced their Western competitors by focusing on discovery in ways that U.S. platforms have failed to replicate (in large part because they are focused on selling you stuff). While U.S. lawmakers attempt to crack down on on foreign apps, these platforms will continue to innovate and capture users’ attention, leaving American companies and policymakers playing catch-up.
As Ryan Broderick at Garbage Day writes: “American tech businesses know they’re out of step with China. They know they’re losing ground around the world to apps like TikTok and Temu and Shein and CapCut and AliExpress. And American lawmakers naively believe that the American market, the American audience, is valuable enough to be used as a bargaining chip. And they will busy themselves with games of regulatory whack-a-mole while China continues to conquer the rest of the internet.”
Regulation aside, I think there are reasons RedNote might be more of a flash in the pan vs long term replacement for TikTok. I don’t want to pour cold water on all the beautiful moments where people are genuinely connecting across cultures, but this honeymoon phase will not last, nor will RedNote ever truly be able to replicate TikTok’s popularity.
TikTok is a global app and, while the For You feed is highly localized, TikTok’s global user base played a major role in the early success of the app in America. RedNote doesn’t offer that same global popularity. The app is also primarily in Chinese, making it extremely difficult for new U.S. users to navigate easily. Many people have responded by attempting to learn Mandarin, but Mandarin is not a language you can pick up overnight. This higher barrier to entry will inherently limit RedNote’s user base.
More importantly, it’s really, really tough to compete with Meta and Google in the U.S. As I reported in my book Extremely Online, a primary reason Musical.ly was forced to sell to Bytedance to begin with back in 2017 was that it was being crushed and driven out of business by Meta (Instagram).
TikTok (the name Bytedance rebranded Musical.ly under) was only able to compete with Meta platforms and gain widespread traction in the U.S. thanks to its multi billion dollar parent company pouring massive resources into marketing the app. TikTok spent $1 billion on app download ads in 2019 alone, ran a massive national marketing campaign, and benefited tremendously from everyone being stuck inside in the early days of the pandemic. It will be almost impossible for any other platform to replicate those conditions.
Also, I think that while it’s all rainbows and sunshine now, eventually conflicts will arise and people on RedNote will begin fighting with each other. This isn’t inherently bad, because drama does generate engagement. But, I think it will burst a lot of users’ bubbles when they realize RedNote is ultimately just another social media app.
That doesn’t mean the platform won’t have impact, but I’m eager to see how many people using it now are still using it in three months or a year, especially if the app moves ahead with dividing RedNote servers into mainland and foreign, which many RedNote users are making sad posts about.
In the meantime, follow me on there!
Everyone’s pretending to buy TikTok for clout
Over the past few days, a slew of high profile figures have claimed that they’re willing to buy TikTok. The whole thing is a grift and desperate attempt at hijacking the news cycle for attention.
First we had Mr. Wonderful, of Shark Tank fame, claiming he’d be buying the app. Then Rapper Meek Mill posted about wanting to buy it. Then, we had reports of Elon Musk trying to swoop in, then the crypto gambling toxic livestreaming app Kick, and finally, MrBeast.
None of these people are actually prepared to buy, much less run, the platform and Bytedance has repeatedly said that TikTok is not for sale. Any sale of TikTok would also not include its algorithm, the entire thing that makes the app successful. The goal of these “offers” is to get headlines and free PR, and unfortunately, it seems to be working.
No, Bluesky isn’t getting it’s own photo app
TechCrunch reported on Wednesday that Bluesky would be getting its own dedicated photo app called Flashes. That’s not exactly whats happening though, as Bluesky users were quick to point out.
“This isn’t an official Bluesky app or affiliated with Bluesky at all and it’s essentially an aggregator of images people post to Bluesky (which you can already access through image-based feeds),” Erin Biba posted, calling the headline misleading. “It’s still cool! But it’s not a new Instagram/TikTok.”
What I’m reading
She Is in Love With ChatGPT
A 28-year-old woman with a busy social life spends hours on end talking to her A.I. boyfriend for advice and consolation. And yes, they do have sex. - NY Times
The Childhood Friends Behind the Most Audacious Sports-Memorabilia Heists in American History
They stole Yogi Berra’s World Series rings. Then they did something really crazy. - The Atlantic
Mr. Lonely
Some have suggested that young men are drawn to Andrew Tate because they suffer from a dearth of social contact. Yet men go to Tate not to alleviate loneliness but to intensify it. - Dissent
Tails, duct tape and Chevy Camaros: Inside the FBI investigation of the ‘furries’ chlorine attack
10 years ago a Furry convention in the suburbs came under chlorine gas attack. got The Chicago Tribune got FBI records on the investigation, which include a man saying he’d “been involved with Furries for the past 12 years and “you make enemies during that time.” - Chicago Tribune
More fun stuff
I wrote about what the TikTok ban means for outdoor communities and creators for Outside magazine.
Steppin is a new app that locks your social media apps unless you get out and walk.
“Facebook is completely an app for women. Men basically don't exist on there.”
Viral app king Nikita Bier just launched a new app called Explode, which lets you send disappearing photos via iMessage.
A list of trans and nonbinary Girl Scouts you can get your cookies from.
The business of history is booming. Books and podcasts about the past are surging in popularity, making them increasingly profitable.
There’s a “laugh epidemic” at movie theaters where people can’t stop laughing at parts of movies others don’t find funny, showing generational divides in humor.
Influencers are using the Los Angeles fires to hawk wellness products like essential oils, detox regimens, and more.
Reddit launched their own LLM-based search engine that aggregates and summarizes relevant responses across threads.
A woman in France was scammed out of €830,000 after believing she was in a relationship with Brad Pitt, which is very sad, but the photos “Brad Pitt” allegedly sent her are hilarious.
Marc Andreessen has been recruiting and interviewing people for positions across the Trump administration, including posts at DOD and intel agencies.
Amazon removes 'equity for Black people' and 'LGBTQ+ rights' from company policies.
Walgreens CEO says anti-shoplifting strategy backfired: ‘When you lock things up…you don’t sell as many of them.’
AI work monitoring software now flags when you type slower than your coworkers.
“You can’t express admiration for Mussolini and share photos of your prosthetic penis anymore because of woke.”
In 2023, the volume of alcoholic spirits sold in the U.S. declined for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Meet Johan Michalove, the PhD Student who created an interactive mutual aid map for L.A.
TikTok will immediately switch off on Sunday. It was previously thought that the app potentially wouldn't disappear and would instead be removed from app stores with existing users in the U.S. still able use it. That’s not the case now.
More top notch MBA grads are looking for work these days.
Sephora is redesigning all of their stores.
Journalist Ashlee Vance has left Bloomberg to start Core Memory, a new science and technology media company producing movies, shows, and podcasts.
The owner of the (exterior) of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment from Sex in The City is asking permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to install a gate because people will not stop terrorizing her.
I want to visit Onionland.
There is a global ant war happening.
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OMG, the laughing during movies!!!!!! I saw The Brutalist on Sunday, a movie with literally one funny line in it and these 2 next to me snickered thru most of it. They talked the whole time too, I was so mad. It’s also almost a 4 hour movie so I was in hell. Like I get it, we don’t all enjoy things the same way but stay home if you’re going to ruin it for all the others who also paid to be there! Like the asshole who fell asleep at the beginning of Conclave a few months ago and SNORED the whole movie! Just stay home and stream it if you can’t be normal in a movie theater with other people. OMG, makes me so mad.