Does a Xiaohongshu account need to be highly niche-specific?

No. But they will not pay you like American socials. You need to realize it’s a Chinese app. It was originally created for Chinese people to keep in touch with relatives and friends who moved away. They allowed Americans to join a couple years ago because of all the stuff with the government. The people you see making money on there are Chinese or live in China and are paid by Chinese companies. They make money via live streaming. You cannot live stream unless you are a Chinese citizen. To become a Chinese citizen you must give up your current citizenship. You also cannot advertise on there or tell people to contact you on another app to sell to them. You will get banned.

Eventually you will get banned (proof your identity)

It’s a lost cause.

It depends on what you’re trying to do with it. Are you trying to monetise the account? I have 100,000 followers on XHS and make zero money from the app. The money comes from the services you provide outside of the app.

I have 600,000 on Chinese TikTok and it’s also the same - very limited income from gifts or otherwise - that all just goes back into my own ads, but it’s the product you’re selling which makes you money.

I have one friend who is a fitness blogger in Shanghai who has about 20,000 fans on XHS, but he doesn’t make money from it except for his free gym membership and for the shoes from a sponsor he gets once a month or so which he then sells. But he doesn’t have a product… so there’s no money to really be made.