To directly answer the question, Rednote is not generally used outside China, and the point about these apps being representative of "global" social media apps is false.
It's called Dispo. You probably haven't heard of it because it became almost irrelevant a few weeks after launch. #1 on the app store doesn't mean a whole lot.
I agree. But I'm just saying that #1 on the app store doesn't preclude something from being a fad and my guess is that in 1 month's time, no one is going to be talking about RedNote outside of Chinese communities.
How many of those downloads originated in China? Genuine question, I read the article and it doesn't say. Apple's App Store is available in China, and China's population alone could be skewing those numbers.
It received some popularity among TikTok refugees from the US and subsequently also from around the world by users who got curios about what the fuzz was all about.