Zuckerberg’s ‘masculine energy’ doesn’t interest young people – Technologist

In the American film Face-Off (1997), a policeman and a hoodlum exchange faces, sowing confusion: who’s the good guy? Who’s the bad guy? Facebook-Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s latest appearances and decisions are so at odds with his past positions that we wonder when he’ll pull off his mask to reveal that he’s actually his rival, Elon Musk.

But no, it seems we’re indeed dealing with the real Zuckerberg. His latest statement in the form of a memo involved commenting on the firing of 3,600 employees in an unapologetically macho style: “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster,” he declared.

We can imagine that, beyond the strange change in his personal beliefs, the CEO of Meta intends to attract Donald Trump’s good graces and not leave the field open to the ambitions of his opponent. Musk is rumored to be interested in buying the US portion of Chinese social media giant TikTok, which could be banned in the United States by the end of this week.

Young, lost Americans

But in his quest for recognition, Zuckerberg should still wonder about what is driving a strange phenomenon. Since the weekend, some of TikTok’s 170 million users have chosen to take refuge on another platform in anticipation of the upcoming ban. And it’s not Facebook or Instagram they’ve chosen, but a Chinese platform unknown in the West. It’s not based in the US, it’s all in Mandarin, and its name, Xiaohongshu (RedNote in English), couldn’t be more explicit. It means “Little Red Book,” like the one Mao Zedong put in the hands of all citizens for over three decades. After a brief promotional campaign on TikTok, the Xiaohongshu app became, as of Monday, January 13, the most downloaded on Apple’s App Store in the US.

Amused, the Chinese users of the trendy Shanghai-based platform, a sort of shopping, travel and tips guide, were quick to welcome the young Americans lost amid Mandarin characters with patience and kindness, creating tutorials and sharing pronunciation courses.

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