From the transformation of search needs, the difference in content structure to the adaptation of user experience, Xiaohongshu not only provides knowledge, but also provides actionable solutions. At the same time, although Zhihu has advantages in terms of knowledge depth and professionalism, it fails to meet the immediate needs of users in life decision-making due to different content forms and community atmosphere.
In recent years, Xiaohongshu has become the new Baidu. In the early days, it was still a platform for girls to share outfits and beauty, but now when you open it again, almost everything is asked, and everyone is answering everything. From rice cooker recommendations to visa processes, from job-hopping experience to small language self-learning paths, Xiaohongshu has become a universal answer library for life.
Interestingly, this should have been done by Zhihu, after all, Zhihu started by asking questions. However, Zhihu’s questions and answers did not precipitate an encyclopedic content ecology.
Search shifts from acquiring knowledge to acquiring solutions
In the past, Baidu search satisfied the need to find standard answers, but now users are more concerned about how others do it, can I do the same?
Take the need to apply for study abroad as an example:
- Zhihu’s answerYes: A full set of strategies summarized by a 985 senior, including background analysis, key points of document optimization, and various channel suggestions.
- Xiaohongshu’s answerYes: An ordinary user, sharing how he applied for DIY in three months, what resources he used, what pitfalls he stepped on, and what the result was.
Zhihu provides a summary of knowledge, and Xiaohongshu provides personal real experience. The former helps you understand; The latter helps you make decisions.
The core value of the platform is not necessarily the professionalism of the content, butContent adaptability。 That is, whether it can match the user’s current situation and needs, and give an answer that can be copied.
Zhihu reconstructs, Xiaohongshu reconstructs
Zhihu cannot become the new Baidu because it is not building a world, but deconstructing everything. When I opened Zhihu, I saw that people scolded education to the point of being incomplete, criticized the concept of marriage and love to a full range of holes, and dismantled the housing market, stock market, and macroeconomy to a bloody extent. You can say it’s the truth, it’s depth, it’s the point of view, but for most people, it’s not life.
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For example, the content structure of Zhihu: first analyze the problem from the underlying logic; dismantling the view; Finally, a summary or reflection is drawn. This structure is suitableEstablish system cognition, but it also naturally emphasizes criticism rather than execution.
The typical content structure of Xiaohongshu is to start from a scene and give methods, paths, and lists. What it offers is a possibility, even an illusion of life under a filter: you can dress up like this, you can try this product, you may be able to live differently.
The content is certainly not 100% real, but it inspires a desire to “I can too”. This desire is more driven than knowledge itself.
Users of Xiaohongshu are not educated why they can’t, but are encouraged that you can also try.
Therefore, Zhihu is suitable for expressing opinions, and Xiaohongshu is more suitable for forming life decisions.
Xiaohongshu provides a sense of experience that is the scene
The content form of Zhihu is mostly long text, the community atmosphere is rational, and the interaction is mainly text. Xiaohongshu is mainly based on graphics and videos, and is builtA sense of experience that is the content of the scene。
For example, if you search for French commuter wear, Zhihu’s answer may be the origin of style and matching logic, while Xiaohongshu is directly a real picture + brand + link + try-on experience, and then labeled as a relevant group.
It’s not just that the information is presented differently, butThe fit of content and life scenes is different。
In Xiaohongshu, content = solution = entrance. In Zhihu, content = expression = opinion induction.
Xiaohongshu undertakes the life decision-making system, and Zhihu is the knowledge index system. one is biased towards information output; An execution entry point closer to decision-making.
In essence, Zhihu is a rational search, suitable for knowledge combing and concept collision, and it serves “I want to know how the world works”. Xiaohongshu is a situational search, suitable for life choices, emotional perception, and serves “I want to know how I should choose and do it”.
Zhihu is facing itKnowledge anxiety, they need to establish a cognitive framework; Xiaohongshu is facingLife manager, they want to optimize their current life.
Xiaohongshu is not successful because the content is easier and more traffic-oriented, but because it is captured earlierThe contextual needs behind user searches, and provide “solution-oriented content” with lower thresholds and higher perceived value. thereforeThe content system of Xiaohongshu naturally occupies a larger consumer market space.
So, why did Xiaohongshu become the new Baidu, and Zhihu failed to catch this wave of demand? The answer is not about who is more professional or valuable, but who is closer to the user’s life that is happening.
