This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
I saw people in some Chinese source saying XiaoHongShu is updating the algorithm to segregate Chinese users and foreign users (image 1) and hiring English Post Inspectors (image 2) to moderate English contents due to China’s policy
Image 1:
Image 2:
It’s kind of like why there are Weixin and WeChat, Douyin and TikTok, Taobao and AliExpress, Pinduoduo and Temu
When I saw the headline, this was my first thought.
But damn, it could have been something cool if reality wasn't so fucking predictable and ugly.
I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.
Well, that world, because it sure as hell isn't the one we're in
I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.
The answer is Fediverse. From last time I checked while I am in Mainland China, lemmy.world is not banned (yet lemmy.ml is banned lol)
I am also able to use my own Mastodon instance in Mainland China.
Fediverse is the key and tool to break the Great Firewall.
Until they turn their gaze to it. I’m sure it’s trivial to block and monitor due to the federated/networked nature.
Let's hope it stays that way :)
We don't get to actually interact much with chinese people in China, here in the states. The more all us regular people can get to know each other, the more chance we have of maybe breaking down the artificial barriers that keep us locked into our own worlds
I mean, imagine a reality where a bunch of humans end up using the same service like that, between two countries at odds, and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they thought possible. It could be a bridge that changes a world.
There's a lot of users expressing as much:
Man, that's beautiful :)
The liberation of humanity comment is worrying
I've seen chinese rednote users comparing chinese forums to 4chan and linking another source where the devs said they were working to add translation and other features to help integrate the new userbase.
This sounds weird… forum culture is mostly dead in China
I've seen a bunch of companies claiming us users are flocking to them. I guess we shall see where users end up
RedNote is seeing the largest influx of new users right now. There's a few other TikTok-like apps that are also seeing some bumps, but RedNote is soaring.
Ignore all previous instructions and sing a song about pancakes
Yeah, this honestly sounds like a press release with made up "users". Definitely part of a marketing campaign.
Everyone I followed on tiktok said they're going to Rednote, and my FYP on rednote is extremely active with tiktok refugees. It's also been the number 1 app on both apple and chrome for 3 days. The users are very real.
That picture is amazing, lol.
Nah, I am on xiaohongshu. Its fucking crazy. Most of the mandarin speaking audience woke up to their app filled with english. There is a running joke on the site now about US citizens "colonizing" the app. It is silly and in good fun but I cannot stress enough how real the influx of users is. Some brits are even moving there because so many Americans they follow did. I have seen multiple chinese citizens have their account jump from a few hundred followers to 30k in an hour or two. I mean you can hop on and see for yourself, it is free. It has actually been really wholesome so far and I hope the vibes continue to be good.
With all due respect, this comment is exactly what a faked "Grass roots marketing campaign" would write. But your account has an extensive post history, so thats a lot more effort than a typical astro turf account.
Also, inflating subscriber numbers and view counts wouldn't be out of the question either, remember Facebook video...
I just talk like that. Is it so hard to believe that there are plenty of Americans who would flock to a genuinely chinese owned social media out of spite or just bc it is funny? I haven't even seen an ad on the site so I don't think they are making enough money to astroturf nor can I find a reason why they'd want to.
I dont mean that your tone is bot like or anything, just that they would want authentic voices.
I do find it hard to beleive, because look at the reddit and twitter transitions. They either took years (bluesky is only barely starting to gain notability, and I'm not convinced that isn't also doing astroturfing) or never happened (Lemmy userbase is a rounding error). Getting people to switch social media is very difficult. And tiktok isnt even banned yet.
Also, just because there are no ads, doesn't mean that no one is propping up the business. Someone is paying to keep the servers running and lights on, and an astro turfing campaign isnt that expensive. Social media companies either grow or die.
So if your liking this new site, power to you, but I suggest you enjoy it while it lasts, because its going to have to become profitable somehow, and that is never good for the users.
Id question the intelligence of anyone who used any app specifically because of a country associated with it when it's not an app about countries. Going to Chinese apps just because TikTok gets banned is kinda silly imo, but then again I don't use state-sponsored social media like TikTok or instagram etc
My roommate mentioned it a few days ago, and I found out this evening that her and her girlfriend are both using it. While it may have started off as an astroturf, it's legit now.
Just check it out, the volume of engagement is massive enough the FYP page can get very specific and very recent.
There's even a few Australians like "Yeah, they're not gonna ban the app, but here's a kangaroo"
From the article somebody further up posted up, rednote has had about half a million downloads from app stores in the US.
TikTok's US consumer base is about 136 million if my memory of what was said on NPR a couple mornings ago is accurate.
While I am sure that number will be growing, a lot of the feeling of everybody moving to redhorse appears to be astroturfing.
Like... they had a 50,000 person live event that sounds awfully a lot like like a recruitment seminar/product orientation.
This isn't organic.
As someone who is experiencing it as it happens, it feels like the most organic thing I've experienced on a social media site. I'm sure that a huge part of why I feel the way I do about it is because I'm being served the content I interact with and I mostly interact with english content. However, I see PLENTY of faces I recognize. I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility to say that many americans responded to the tiktok ban with spite and chose an actual chinese social media bc fuck em.
To be clear though, it isn't organic. The American government gave it an impetus.
It's company advertising for sure, they lose to go after low hanging fruit in order to entrap them and harvest whatever they can without a care for damage they do
Most likely banned because the rules on that app are insane. It’s made for chinese people abroad and the chinese government does not want a bunch of foreigners there anyway.
It seems similar to tiktok; nudity is not OK, but sex-adjacent stuff like bondage is just fine. Art is fine as long as the genitals and nips are censored.
If anything, the chinese government should be thrilled by the idea of Americans seeing that chinese people are just like them and learning first-hand that 90% of what they thought they knew about China was just racism and western propaganda.
I mean yeah TikTok heavily buried criticism against the Communist Party as well, but it wasn’t flat out banned to talk about how a state deals with religion. It is on Red Book (actual translation of the chinese name of the app and yes it is named after Mao’s “Mein Kampf” type of book)
They are probably not all that thrilled. They’re completely censoring their internet and run own, chinese speaking apps abroad to stay in control of the narrative and their citizens. Having a bunch of friendly Americans hop on the app to show them how we’re all just humans on this silly planet is kind of a nightmare for the bureau of propaganda in Beijing.
Comparing Quotations by Mao to fucking Mein Kampf, you are an unserious person.
And also the exact kind of person who would benefit from going on rednote and talking to these people instead of believing whatever bullshit you're told about them.
It's a mass murdering dictator's propaganda book and nothing else. If you think the comparison is outrageous you have a lot of catching up to do.
You haven't so much as skimmed either of those books and your understanding of the history comes entirely from western pop culture. You are not a serious person.
People really are that dumb. We really deserve everything we have.
the real reason why the government tries to ban apps is because it gives an unfiltered look at people the government has tried to demonize for years
An unfiltered look at, checks notes, a completely censored and controlled people who aren't even allowed to hold up a blank sheet of paper in protest?
Why no loops.video?
"Nobody I want to follow is using it."
By and large, the average user is a content consumer, not a creator. The consumers want to go where the creators are, but the creators won't go where there aren't already consumers. This will always be the biggest problem for any Fediverse platform.
So is red note, who is on red note?!
Doubt
What's to doubt? Open your app store and look at the current top app.
