Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at the impacts of the looming TikTok ban in the U.S., including the “TikTok refugees” moving to

Duolingo capitalized on the sudden interest in Mandarin learning tied to the TikTok ban and RedNote’s rise. Similarly, small businesses can monitor cultural shifts—whether through social media trends, microtrends, news, or industry developments—and adapt their messaging, offerings or campaigns to meet consumer and customer new interests.

The language-learning app Duolingo has seen a surprising trend emerge, the closer we get to the TikTok ban -- there's been a 216% spike in US users learning Mandarin compared to this time last year.

The last scroll for US users of TikTok is nearing, and everyone from content creators to major companies are posting their final goodbyes.

Walmart, Wendy’s and Duolingo, among other companies, took to TikTok to bid farewell to the more than 170 million Americans who are on the brink of a potential nationwide ban of the app.

As TikTok users flood to RedNote a third app is profiting from the transition without having to do anything at all.

"I almost, like, don't know how to define myself without TikTok," content creator Ayman Chaudhary sighed, reflecting the consternation of millions over US authorities' scheduled banning Sunday of the hugely popular app.

This photograph in Paris on January 15, 2025, shows logos of Chinese-owned mobile applications Xiaohongshu (L) and TikTok. In the days leading up to a proposed United-States government ban on the

Their migration to the app, known as Xiaohongshu in China, has opened up unexpected avenues for cultural exchanges between Chinese and American users. TikTok faces a possible ban on Sunday as the US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that could either ban the popular app or force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company.

Ahead of TikTok's US ban, more users are turning to Xiaohongshu, aka RedNote, another popular app in China that has topped App Store charts.