RedNote instead of TikTok: Americans are learning Chinese en masse
17 January 16:12
American TikTok users have started learning Chinese on Duolingo due to the possible blocking of TikTok in the United States. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to TechCrunch.
The law, which is set to come into effect on January 19 unless overturned by the Supreme Court, provides for the removal of TikTok from US app stores and blocking its operation on users’ devices unless they install a VPN.
However, instead of bypassing the ban, more than 700 million TikTok users switched to the RedNote platform, which led to an unexpected cultural exchange between citizens of the two countries. In particular, the number of requests from Chinese users to American users for help with English homework has increased.
Despite the technical difficulties encountered when registering on RedNote and cases of blocking due to violation of community rules, the transition to this platform has sent a powerful signal to the US government and TikTok’s competitors, such as Meta. Users have demonstrated a high demand for Chinese social platforms that American companies are still trying to emulate.
This massive switch also showed that American users are not overly concerned that Chinese companies may collect their personal data for questionable purposes. These are the very concerns that led to the ban of TikTok. However, as it turned out, this does not stop many people.
Since the Xiaohongshu/RedNote app, developed in Shanghai, is targeted at a Chinese audience, its default language is Chinese. This has led to a sharp increase in Duolingo’s popularity among Americans who have begun to study Chinese intensively.
Duolingo is among the top downloads
According to Duolingo, the number of new Chinese language learners in the United States has increased by 216% compared to last year. A particularly noticeable jump was recorded in mid-January, when the popularity of RedNote began to grow rapidly. In addition, in its survey “How did you hear about us?” the company noted that more and more new users are responding: “TikTok”.
According to the analytics company Appfigures, the demand for Duolingo language courses has grown significantly, which has significantly affected the number of app installations.
Thus, as of January 3, the number of Duolingo downloads in the US increased by 36% on the App Store and Google Play platforms combined. This may indicate that users first tested various Chinese social apps before switching to RedNote in droves later in January.
Just a week ago, Duolingo was ranked in the top forties in the Top Apps (excluding games) and Overall Top (including games) rankings. Now it has risen to 22nd place in the “Overall Top” and 20th place among the “Top Apps”.
