Is Xiaohongshu's beta testing of "posting daily life" a step closer to becoming a "WeChat Moments" platform?

Since August, Xiaohongshu has begun a small-scale test of the "Post Daily Life" feature. Users participating in the test can choose to "Post a Note" or "Post Daily Life" on the posting page. The latter supports images and videos and allows users to set permissions such as "Visible for three days," "Visible only to followers," and custom groups.

In response, on August 31, Xiaohongshu customer service confirmed that the feature was undergoing limited testing. Xiaohongshu told Wall Street News that the move aims to encourage more ordinary users to authentically share their daily lives.

The "visible for three days" setting has drawn comparisons to the "visible for three days" setting on WeChat Moments.

However, in terms of specific mechanisms, Xiaohongshu's "daily posts" differ significantly from WeChat Moments' "visible for three days" setting. WeChat Moments' settings primarily limit how far back in time friends can view historical content, usually affecting the entire account; Xiaohongshu, on the other hand, designs "daily posts" as a separate content type, with each post exiting public display after three days, while retaining an option to convert it into a long-term note.

This design first addresses the publishing threshold; regular notes will be displayed for a long time and may even be included in recommendations, search, and favorites. For some users, the title, cover image, and content completeness have become issues to consider before publishing.

Short-term displays can accommodate real-time content such as commuting, food, and observations, reducing users' concerns about long-term retention and homepage presentation.

Xiaohongshu's current publicly available platform lists 300 million monthly active users, 90% of its content is user-generated, and its daily search queries are 300 million, but the page does not specify the statistical period.

For a platform that relies on user-generated content, how to convert viewers into publishers and increase the frequency of participation by ordinary users is an important issue in community operations.

The "Post Daily Life" feature also strengthens the management of content visibility. The "Only for Followers" and "Custom Groups" options allow users to distinguish between public expressions and limited-access sharing, and also provide more space for continued interaction within the follower relationship.

However, Xiaohongshu is primarily built on one-way following, algorithmic recommendations, and search discovery, while WeChat Moments is based on two-way friend relationships. These different relationship structures mean that even if the two products use similar time settings, their actual usage scenarios will not be exactly the same.

Several product details remain unclear, including whether "Daily" content will appear in homepage recommendations and search results, how interaction data will be handled when it's hidden, and whether it can be shared under different user permissions. These rules will influence whether this feature is more geared towards lightweight content publishing or serves to further strengthen social relationships.

From a platform operation perspective, short-form content may increase posting frequency, but it may also lead to problems such as duplicate information and an increase in marketing content. Xiaohongshu needs to find a balance between encouraging easy expression and maintaining information quality.

At this stage, "posting daily life" is more suitable to be regarded as a supplement to the existing note-taking system. Its actual impact still needs to be observed in terms of the scope of testing, user adoption rate, and subsequent distribution rules.

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