In the United States there is very little time left for the entry into force of the ban on TikTokthe famous social app that has won over more than 170 million Americans, especially among the younger ones. Almost a year after the entry into force of the law requiring the sale of the application Bytedance by January 19th, if the Chinese company does not meet the deadlines imposed TikTok it will no longer be usable in the United States.
Message received, with entries reported by Bloomberg who want the Chinese in negotiations with Elon Muskalready owner of X, for selling the American version of the app. The request of Trump to the supreme court to delay the entry into force of ban to find a political agreement would seem to confirm that something is moving under the surface. But the message was not only received by Bytedance. Even regular TikTok users are taking actionand they are doing so by quickly looking for valid alternatives.
The results, however, are paradoxical. For a few days now, the most downloaded free applications in the iOS App store have been the Chinese REDnote and Lemon8which beat giants like ChatGPT, Clapper, Instagram and Temu (the Chinese version of Amazon). On the Google Play store, used in Android devices, the situation changes, even if slightly; in fact here it is Lemon8 to be the most downloaded free app, followed by REDnote.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that Lemon8 is owned by Bytedance, the same as TikTok. It therefore seems realistic to think that if the rise of this application in the American market were to continue we would find ourselves faced with a repeat of the “TikTok case”.
But what exactly are these two apps that are starting to become popular in the United States?
Let’s start from Lemon8the other application of Bytedancecurrently not available in Italy. The Play Store description reads: “Lemon8 is a community-focused lifestyle app powered by TikTok, where you can discover and share authentic content on a variety of topics like beauty, fashion, travel, food and more.”
The connection with TikTok is already clear from the description, deepened by the fact that it is possible to connect to Lemon8 from the latterpreserving their own follow and recommended content, also allowing influencers to move between the two platforms without losing their own followers and having to “start over again”. The aesthetics of the app are different from those of its older sister: focused on yellow, with an interface that is very reminiscent Pinterest. As for the contents, as mentioned in the description they focus on fashion, travel, food and beauty, with a mixed approach that combines TikTok-style videos with Instagram-like photos.
It is not surprising that in recent months the announcements on TikTok related to the sister app have multiplied, also bringing the desired results, judging by the number of downloads made on the stores Google And Apple.
REDnotealso known as Xiaohongshu (literally “little red book”, like Mao’s), is the other application that is increasingly attracting young American internet users in recent weeks. Owned by Xingyin Information Technologybased in Shanghai, REDnote is characterized as an application that combines the typical features of social media with those of e-commerceit is in fact also possible to purchase products from Taobaothe e-commerce of Alibaba directly connected to the application, perhaps after seeing the reviews on it REDnote.
Another important factor that distinguishes the application of Xingyin Information Technology it is the young age of its users, with more than 70% of the 218 million global users (mostly Chinese) being born after 1990. REDnote It is therefore configured as an app designed and tailor-made for the Zeta and Alpha generations, with enormous growth potential.
This is demonstrated by the surge in downloads that has taken place in the United States in recent weeks, with hashtags like “TikTokrefugee” which trended on feeds of the application. Unlike Lemon8the property of REDnote she was not hit by anyone ban and is not considered (for the moment) a danger to American national security.
Dwelling too much on the contents of these two applications would perhaps be useless. As was also the case with TikTok, the huge influx of new Western users will necessarily change the face of the applicationsleading to the birth of new trends, contents and changes to the applications themselves. Yet, this mass movement towards two new Chinese social platforms could be the prelude to two new international phenomena, which, as always, will start from the United States before arriving in Europe (provided they are not banned).