Xiaohongshu Vs TikTok Vs Instagram 🥊 What is RED NOTE?
What is Xiaohongshu (小红书), What Does Xiaohongshu Mean and Is It Safe? Your 2025 Questions Answered
There’s a new kid on the social media block.
Xiaohongshu (小红书) is gaining international attention and becoming the place to be for the recent stream of Tiktok Refugees.
But we’ve had a lot of questions about 小红书, so here’s some quick answers:
What is Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)?
Xiaohongshu, or “RED,” is a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform blending Instagram’s visual appeal with TikTok’s discovery-driven algorithms. Launched in 2013 as a platform for overseas shopping tips, it has evolved into a lifestyle app for reviews, recommendations, and tutorials on beauty, fashion, travel, and more. With millions of users, it’s a hub for authentic, user-generated content.
What Does Xiaohongshu Mean?
“小红书” (Xiǎo hóng shū) translates to “Little Red Book,” but unlike Mao Zedong’s famous text, it has no political ties. The name reflects its origin as a trusted guide for quality products.
Is Xiaohongshu Safe?
Generally considered safe, Xiaohongshu prioritizes authentic user experiences and filters fake reviews. Still, users should be cautious with purchases, especially international users navigating unfamiliar vendors or language barriers.
💼 If you’ll be doing Marketing in Chinese, you’ll need to get familiar with it!
In this blog, we’ll compare Xiaohongshu with TikTok and Instagram to explore why it’s becoming a social media powerhouse.
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Comparisons Table (Quick stats)
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // What is Xiaohongshu?
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Users
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // The Main Feed
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Official Accounts
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Shopping Experience
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Adverts
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Overall Comparison
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // FAQs
Comparisons Table (Quick Facts)
| Xiao Hongshu | TikTok | ||
| Name | Xiao Hongshu / 小红书/ Little Red Bood / RED | TikTok (抖音 dǒu yīn in China) | Instagram / IG / Insta |
| Founded | 2013 | 2016 | 2010 |
| Monthly active Users | 300 million | 1.69 billion | 2.35 billion monthly |
What is Xiaohongshu?
Xiaohongshu (小红书), Little Red Book or simply RED is one of the most interesting and dynamic social e-commerce applications in China today.
DID YOU KNOW – The Chinese e-commerce market is the largest and richest in the world?
In fact, you can even discover the richest people in China thanks to our very own article about China’s biggest billionaires right now!
Xiaohongshu was founded in 2013 by Charlwin Mao Wenchao and Mirand Qu Fang as an online tour guide for Chinese shoppers.
Goals And Targets
At first, Xiaohongshu was created as a user-generated content social sharing platform.
At that time, Weibo (微博 Wēibó) and WeChat (微信 Wēixìn) had already covered Chinese consumer’s digital social life very well, so the task was not easy.
However, Xiaohongshu had a plan.
Xiaohongshu 小红书 entered with a different position: targeting Chinese young, urban women characterized by a strong desire of discovering and sharing shopping experiences while travelling outside China.
Weibo is effectively China’s Twitter. Wechat’s Moments feature is essentially a “Facebook feed“. Xiaohongshu sensed the chance to exploit a new area.
Quickly, Xiaohongshu formed a large group of females who enjoy fashion, shopping and sharing their own experiences.
Sound similar to Instagram?!
This helped Xiaohongshu scale as a social sharing platform for global shopping experiences.
By the end of 2014, Xiaohongshu launched its cross-border e-commerce business.
Users discover and buy products online, but also share recommendations and advice to others.
What Is Instagram?
Instagram, abbreviated to IG or Insta by many, is an American social network which I am sure many of you are very familiar with these days!
It was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.
Instagram was launched in 2010 on iOS and two years later for Android users.
Instagram is all about sharing photos of anything and everything with your friends.
Psst… Don’t forget to follow LTL Mandarin on Instagram for Chinese Language Content!
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a global social media platform that has been hitting headlines for a few years, most recently in the face of a potential US ban.
It was founded by Zhang Yiming and launched by the Chinese company ByteDance.
TikTok debuted in 2016 and quickly became a sensation, offering short, engaging videos for users to share their creativity with the world.
TikTok is all about creating and sharing short-form videos, covering everything from dance trends and comedy skits to educational content and viral challenges.
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok VS Instagram // Users
The Numbers
Xiaohongshu has been a big deal in China for quite some time and already boasts a total of approximately 300 million active users in 2025.
Instagram has over 2.3 billion active monthly users, meaning it absolutely towers over Xiaohongshu in terms of user numbers today. Meanwhile, Tiktok comes in at around 1.6 billion active monthly users.
Gender And Age
Xiaohongshu is mostly intended for young urban women aged between 25 and 40 years old.
Indeed, 86.9% of users are women while only 13.1% are male users. A huge difference to Instagram.
Instagram and TikTok are also intended for young people aged between 18 and 35 years old, but both have a more balanced gender split.
There is almost complete split amongst Instagram users: 51% female and 49% male.
For Tiktok, 54.8% of users identify as male and 45.2% identify as female
As the graph below shows, the percentage of users aged between 25 and 34 is higher on Xiaohongshu than on Instagram.
On the contrary, the percentage of over 45-year-olds is higher on Instagram than Xiaohongshu.
(Phoceis.asia)
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok Vs Instagram // The Main Feeds
The content on the homepage page of Xiaohongshu, TikTok and Instagram varies according to an algorithm that determines which posts are more interesting based on users‘ activity history.
Xiaohongshu users can choose:
- To see posts from the accounts they follow (this section is called 关注 guānzhù, literally “to follow”)
- To discover random products (发现 fāxiàn literally “to discover”)
- To search for nearby products (附近 fùjìn literally “close”)
All the remaining posts which appears on the feed are recommendations from the app based on the personal interests set by the users.
Instagram and TikTok users can see:
- Posts from the people they are following which appear on the homepage;
- Sponsored adverts
- Posts based on users’ personal interests from accounts that users don’t follow which appear in the Discover section
All 3 apps have the possibility to post “stories” and have a “search bar“.
The search bar on Xiaohongshu is located on the homepage and enables users to search for products, posts related to the word searched, and/or the product page.
WHAT’S NEW – On Xiaohongshu, users can also search for information, reviews and recommendations before they make purchasing decisions.
Xiaohongshu calls this content “notes” (笔记 Bǐjì).
Xiaohongshu VS TikTok Vs Instagram // Official Pages & Accounts
Users of all three platforms can follow officially certified pages from brands and see their posts.
(nanjingmarketinggroup.com)
On Xiaohongshu, the official brand pages can be customized and are different to the ones of regular users.
Alternatively, on Instagram and TikTok, official pages for brands look largely the same as those of regular users, though they do have additional features for contacting the business or getting a quote.
There is very little difference in the look of it except that it has to be certified and allowed to sell.
ANYTHING IN COMMON? – On Xiaohongshu, TikTok and Instagram official pages can publish stories and posts to engage their followers.
Xiaohongshu // The Shopping Experience
Xiaohongshu allows users to buy products directly on its platform.
They are not required to exit the app and hence are able to shop quickly with saved mobile payment information
Users can:
- Buy directly from links integrated within posts they will find on the homepage
- Search the product page in the store section
- Go to the official page of the brand to select the product
Before buying, users can see the description of the product, different pictures and reviews of the product.
They can also see other similar recommended products.
To pay, they can use WeChat Pay or Alipay (支付宝 Zhīfùbǎo).
Do you want to know more about Wechat Pay and Alipay?
Read our blog post about the two most common payment apps in China, or if you prefer watching, check out the video below.
Instagram users can find the Shopping feature in the discover section.
To buy a product, users are redirected to the official website of the brand and there they can finalize the transaction.
Xiaohongshu // Adverts
Brands on Xiaohongshu have the possibility to either pay for adverts that pop up upon opening the app, or ads integrated within the explore page feed.
Since the official page is customizable, brands can also create original content to advertise on their page or pay for trending searches to increase their visibility in the shop section.
One way to efficiently advertise to Chinese customers is the collaboration with Key Opinion Leaders or KOLs (关键意见领袖 Guānjiàn yìjiàn lǐngxiù)
Not sure what a KOL is? It’s basically a fancy term for an Influencer, a word many of us have become familiar with over the last few years!
Brands search for KOLs they would like to work with and contact them through the app in order to promote their products.
Instagram’s advertising strategy involves paying to post sponsored content on the platform to reach a larger audience.
There are five different types of Instagram ads which are Photo Ads, Video Ads, Carousel Ads, Slideshow Ads and Stories Ads.
For Instagram, hashtags are an important feature because they allow brands to target your business to individuals who are interested in your product or service.
Brands on Instagram can also realize marketing activities through influencers and celebrities.
Unlike Xiaohongshu, influencers are typically gained through agencies or directly to feature their products on their feed and post stories to increase brand popularity.
Xiaohongshu vs Instagram // Overall Comparison
| 小红书 | Tiktok | |
|---|---|---|
| Strong focus on e-commerce | Short-form video content and viral trends | Sharing personal experiences with friends |
| Most users based in China | Global user base, with significant growth in the U.S. and other countries | Global user base |
| Founded in 2013 | Founded in 2016 | Founded in 2010 |
| 300 million monthly users | Over a billion monthly users | Over 2 billion monthly users |
| Different accounts for brands and personal users | Same account style for brands and users | Same account style for brands and users |
| More flexible advertising options | Strong focus on influencer marketing and creative advertising campaigns | Currently much more limited ways to promote a brand |
Xiaohongshu vs Tiktok vs Instagram // FAQs
What does Xiaohongshu (小红书) mean in English?
小红书 (xiǎo hóng shū), literally “Little Red Book,” is a popular Chinese social media and e-commerce platform, often called “RED” in English, known for lifestyle tips, product reviews, and user-generated content.
What is Xiaohongshu 小红书?
Xiaohongshu 小红书 is a Chinese e-commerce platform, commonly known as the “Chinese Instagram”.
Is 小红书 basically the Chinese Instagram?
In essence they are very similar but their focus differs.
小红书 focuses largely on e-commerce, allowing people to easily purchase products whereas, up until 2020 at least, Instagram has been a platform for users worldwide to share their personal experiences of travel, food and life in general.
Can I download 小红书 on my iPhone outside of China?
Yes you can download 小红书 easily.
You can simply start typing the Pinyin of Xiaohongshu and it’ll appear in your app store.
Are the 小红书 and Instagram feeds the same?
On Xiaohongshu users can also search for information, reviews and recommendations before they make purchasing decisions.
Typically 小红书 is more of an e-commerce platform with a heavy emphasis on purchasing.
How can users buy products on Xiaohongshu and Instagram?
Users can buy products directly on Xiaohongshu app, while Instagram users are redirected to the official website of the brand in most instances.
This may well change in the future as Instagram places a further emphasis on e-commerce.
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7 comments
That's incredibly interesting. I had never heard of that App, yet they have 300 million users. Will share
Super interesting isn't it. Much more commercial than Instagram and amazing the difference in demographics between Instagram and Xiaohongshu users.
Really good comparison. Had no idea about it before
Glad you found it useful Nel!
Great breakdown, I'd not heard of the red book before, how stupid. It's huge!!
It is indeed huge, but don't worry, it's easy for a social media to pass us by!
[…] in 2013 and has 300 million registered users and a $20 billion valuation in less than a decade. Some say it is the Chinese version of Instagram, but there are many differences between the two bus… It is quietly leading the consumption habits of young Chinese […]