How to Grow on Kuaishou: Followers, Lives and Trust

You've seen the clips. A farmer in Heilongjiang selling corn on a live stream to tens of thousands of people. A grandma in a tiny county town with a follower count that would make your favourite TikToker sweat. Comments scrolling past full of "老铁" and "666" that you can't quite decode. And you're sitting there thinking: how do I get in on this, and is it even possible if I'm not in China?

It is possible, and Kuaishou (快手) is a strange, warm, loyal place once you understand it. Kuaishou is China's other giant short-video app, the one that grew up in smaller cities and rural towns while Douyin grew up in Beijing and Shanghai. Its audience rewards something TikTok-trained creators sometimes forget: being a real person people trust.

This guide covers how to grow on Kuaishou from zero. You'll get the audience it actually serves, the "old iron" (老铁) culture, how its feed spreads views, why followers matter more here than on most apps, how live streaming and selling work, what you need to sign up, and a short look at Kwai, its international sibling. Numbers come from Kuaishou's own results filings, and anything the platform doesn't publish is labelled as reported.

What Kuaishou is, and how it differs from Douyin

Kuaishou started in 2011 as a GIF-making tool and turned into a short-video community over the next couple of years. It's listed in Hong Kong (stock code 1024) and run by co-founder, chairman and CEO Cheng Yixiao. Scale is not the issue. In its second-quarter 2026 results, Kuaishou reported average daily active users (DAUs) of 412.3 million and average monthly active users (MAUs) of 797.3 million on the Kuaishou app. In the fourth quarter of 2025 it reported average daily time spent per DAU of 126.0 minutes.

If you only know TikTok, the easiest mental model is "the Douyin rival with a different personality". Both are short-video apps with live streaming and shopping built in. The difference is in who uses them and what the platforms historically optimised for. If you're weighing the two, our Douyin growth guide covers the other side in detail.

Read that table as a vibe check. Plenty of big-city users watch Kuaishou and plenty of rural users watch Douyin, but the reputations shape what each community expects from you.

Who's actually watching: lower-tier cities and everyday China

China's cities are often grouped into tiers. Tier one is Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. "Lower-tier" means the hundreds of smaller cities, county towns and villages below that. When Kuaishou was preparing its Hong Kong IPO in 2020, the South China Morning Post described how its founders had restructured the business into a short-video social platform aimed at users in lower-tier cities, and coverage of the company since has consistently described its strongest base as smaller cities and rural communities.

You can see this in Kuaishou's own filings. Its 2026 results talk about supporting creators in "Three Rural" (三农: agriculture, rural areas and farmers) content, about product-origin live streams from industrial zones, and about grassroots sports events in Northwest China. Its fourth-quarter 2025 release highlighted a rural entertainment initiative, the Village Gateway Mini Stage (村口小舞台), that put rural residents on stage.

What this means for you as a creator:

• Relatable beats aspirational. Daily life, work, cooking, family, skills and small-town scenery fit the room. Flexing a luxury lifestyle usually lands better on other apps.
• Older viewers are part of the audience. Make text big, speak clearly, and avoid in-jokes that only make sense on English-language internet.
• Practical value travels. How-to content, farming and craft techniques, honest product demos and "a day in my job" formats suit this crowd.
• Local matters. Kuaishou's home screen has had a Nearby (同城, same-city) tab alongside Follow (关注) and Discover (发现), so local content can find local viewers.

For a foreign creator, this is actually an opening. A Brazilian cook, a Malaysian fisherman or a British farmer showing real daily work can be genuinely interesting to an audience that doesn't see much of that, provided you show up as yourself and put in the effort to communicate in Chinese.

The "old iron" (老铁) culture explained

老铁 (lǎo tiě, literally "old iron") is slang from northeastern China for a close, dependable friend, roughly "bro" or "ride or die" with less irony. Kuaishou's early creator scene had a strong northeastern flavour, and the word became the way creators and viewers address each other. When a streamer says "老铁们" they're talking to their people.

The phrase most associated with it is "老铁，双击666". 双击 (shuāng jī) means double-tap, which on Kuaishou is how you like a video, and 666 is Chinese internet shorthand for "nice" or "smooth", because 六 (six) sounds like 溜 (slick). So it means roughly "bros, double-tap if that was smooth." You'll see 666 in comments constantly.

What the culture rewards

• Consistency of character. People follow a person on Kuaishou more than a format. If you change personality every week, you lose the thread.
• Reciprocity. Reply to comments, read names out on live, remember regulars. The relationship is the product.
• Honesty about your life. A messy kitchen and a real accent are fine. Being caught faking a story or a product claim costs you trust that's slow to win back.
• Loyalty, both ways. Followers who feel looked after defend you in comments, show up to your lives and buy what you recommend. Follower loyalty here can be fierce.

How to speak the language without being cringe

Use 老铁 once you have regulars, the same way you wouldn't call strangers "fam" in your first video. Learn a handful of live-stream phrases: 欢迎 (welcome), 谢谢老铁 (thanks, bro), 点个关注 (hit follow), 下次直播见 (see you next stream). Subtitles in simplified Chinese are close to essential, even if you speak on camera in English. Have a Chinese speaker check your captions before you post.

How Kuaishou spreads your videos

Kuaishou doesn't publish a full description of its recommendation system, so treat everything below as how the platform has been reported to work, plus what it has said about itself.

The "inclusive" (普惠) idea

Kuaishou built its early reputation on 普惠 (pǔ huì), usually translated as "inclusive" or "benefit for all": spreading attention more evenly instead of letting a few top creators take everything. Broker research and Chinese tech media around the IPO widely reported that Kuaishou applied the economist's Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, as a check on how concentrated traffic became. The practical takeaway that creators repeat: ordinary accounts on Kuaishou have historically had a fairer shot at being seen, and the feed tries not to let attention pile up on a tiny elite.

Kuaishou's recent filings still talk in similar terms. The second-quarter 2026 release says the company refined its traffic allocation system "to better safeguard the experience of our highly active core users", and its fourth-quarter 2025 release says it increased exposure for top-tier original content. Read together: original work and the people who use the app every day are what the system is tuned around.

Two columns, then one

For most of its history, Kuaishou's main screen was a two-column grid of thumbnails. You browsed and tapped the one you wanted, unlike Douyin's endless full-screen swipe. On 3 September 2020, Kuaishou launched version 8.0, which, as reported at the time by People's Daily Online and others, supported both modes: two-column tap-to-choose on the existing Follow, Discover and Nearby tabs, plus a new Featured (精选) tab with full-screen vertical swiping.

Why it matters for you:

• Your cover still does work. In a grid, a viewer picks your video from a thumbnail and a few words. Clear faces, readable Chinese text and an obvious subject win the tap.
• Your first seconds do work too. In the swipe feed, viewers decide almost instantly. Lead with the payoff or the problem.
• Followers see you on the Follow tab. On Kuaishou, the Follow feed has historically carried real weight, which is the foundation of the private-domain idea below.

Private-domain traffic: why followers are worth more here

Chinese marketers split traffic into two kinds. 公域 (public domain) is the recommendation feed: strangers who see you because the algorithm chose to show you. 私域 (private domain) is the audience you own a relationship with: your followers, your fan club, your regulars, people who come back on purpose.

Kuaishou is known as the private-domain platform. A widely read 2021 analysis by Jiemian (界面新闻) put the contrast neatly: Kuaishou builds connections first through the Follow page and fan relationships and then brings in new traffic from the public feed, while Douyin pulls in public traffic for creators first and builds the connection afterwards. Kuaishou's own fourth-quarter 2025 results describe "the pathway between public-domain traffic conversion and private-domain asset accumulation" and note that repeat-purchase frequency among active e-commerce users rose. The second-quarter 2026 release talks about strengthening its "private-domain advantages".

What that looks like day to day

• Fan clubs (粉丝团). Viewers can join a streamer's fan club on live. It's a visible badge of loyalty and a signal to you about who your core people are.
• Private messages. Kuaishou keeps pushing social features. In the second quarter of 2026 it reported that users with mutual followers engaging in private messaging grew by more than 15% year over year.
• Repeat buyers. On Kuaishou, a creator's followers often buy from them again and again. That's why a modest account with real trust can out-sell a bigger account with casual viewers.

The strategic point: on Kuaishou, a follower is worth more than a view. A view is a stranger passing by. A follower is a 老铁 who might watch your next live, join your fan club and buy the thing you recommend. Plan every video around earning that follow.

Getting set up: phone, real name and age

The Kuaishou app is downloadable outside China, including on the US App Store, and the interface is in Chinese. Accounts are tied to a phone number. Kuaishou's help centre says one phone number can register one Kuaishou account (and can be bound to up to two).

Real-name verification (实名认证) is where foreign creators hit friction. Kuaishou's systems are built around Chinese ID, and the help centre notes that an ID already verified on one Kuaishou account can't be used to verify another. Real-name verification is required for the things that make money: Kuaishou's own seller page says creators who want to sell for commission must complete real-name verification in the Kuaishou Shop flow. Users report registering with non-mainland phone numbers and verifying with passports, but Kuaishou doesn't publish a clear, current path for foreign passport holders, and reported experiences are inconsistent. Assume you'll need some combination of a mainland number, real-name verification and, for payouts, a Chinese bank or payment setup, and check inside the app before you invest heavily.

Age rules for live streaming

China's rules are explicit. The Cyberspace Administration of China's May 2022 opinions on live-stream tipping say platforms must not provide streamer services to anyone under 16, and need a guardian's consent for 16 to 18 year olds. If you're a teen reading this, that's the ceiling on what you can do on Kuaishou live, and nobody can legitimately work around it.

Live streaming on Kuaishou

Live is the heartbeat of Kuaishou. Kuaishou reported live streaming revenue of RMB39.1 billion for full-year 2025, and RMB8.7 billion in the second quarter of 2026, down 13.5% year over year, which the company attributed to its push for a "healthy" live ecosystem. Live here works on virtual gifts bought with Kuaishou coins (快币), and many entertainment streamers work through guilds (公会), agencies that onboard with Kuaishou. Kuaishou doesn't publish a single public gift revenue split; it depends on your contract and arrangement.

Regulation shapes live hard. In April 2026 the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a notice on live-stream tipping that, among other things, says platforms must not rank, promote or direct traffic to streamers based solely on tip amounts; accounts with a violation record can only reopen tipping three months after the penalty ends; muted accounts lose tipping for two to three times the mute period; and platforms must not induce tipping through cashback or self-tipping. Expect Kuaishou to police anything that looks like pressuring viewers to pay.

How to build a live that people return to

1. Pick a fixed slot. Evenings China time are a reasonable start. Same days, same time, so your 老铁 can plan around you.
2. Warm up with short videos. Post a short clip a few hours before you go live that tells people what's happening tonight.
3. Greet by name. Reading out names as people arrive is a big part of the culture. It turns viewers into regulars.
4. Give a reason to stay. A live cooking session, a Q&A about life abroad, a workshop, a guest. Save "just chatting" for when you have regulars.
5. Thank gifts without begging. Gratitude is expected. Pressure is risky, both culturally and under the rules above.
6. Clip your best moments. Turn highlights into short videos that pull new viewers toward your next live.

If you already stream on TikTok, the mechanics will feel familiar. Our guide to TikTok LIVE requirements and gifts is a useful comparison for how a gift economy works.

Live commerce and brand deals

Selling is where Kuaishou's trust culture turns into money. Kuaishou reported total e-commerce GMV of RMB1,598.1 billion for full-year 2025, up 15.0% from 2024, with RMB521.8 billion in the fourth quarter alone. GMV here counts orders placed on or directed to partners through the platform. That money moves because followers trust the person selling.

Selling for commission (带货)

Kuaishou's official seller page lays out three steps for creators who want to sell other merchants' products for commission:

1. Register a Kuaishou account with a phone number.
2. In Kuaishou Shop (快手小店), choose "I want to sell for commission" (我想带货赚佣金), join, and complete real-name verification to get into the seller back end.
3. In the selection centre (选品中心), pick products, and when you list your first one, switch on the 快分销 distribution permission.

Opening your own shop to sell your own products is a separate flow that requires submitting documents and paying a deposit, with requirements depending on the category. Kuaishou Shop's merchant rules are strict about after-sales behaviour too. Its violation rules list things like refusing to ship unless a buyer follows you or joins your fan club as violations, so don't make loyalty a condition of service.

Brand deals through 磁力聚星

磁力聚星 (Magnetic Star, or "Juxing") is Kuaishou's official creator marketing platform, run by its ad arm 磁力引擎. Brands post campaigns, choose creators and get official performance data. Entry thresholds have changed over the years: Chinese trade media reported a 100,000-follower bar for creators when it launched in 2021, which was lowered for native creators within months. Check the current requirement in the app before you plan around a number.

What sells on Kuaishou

• Things you actually use. Show it working on camera. Viewers here can smell a script.
• Origin stories. Kuaishou's own filings highlight product-origin live streams from farms and factories. If you can show where something comes from, do.
• Fair prices and honest flaws. Mentioning a downside builds the kind of trust that brings buyers back.

A 90-day plan to grow from zero (and the shortcut to skip)

Days 1 to 30: find your character and your corner

• Pick one clear identity: a job, a skill, a place or a life situation. "Foreign dad cooking northeastern food in Texas" beats "random vlogs".
• Post short videos regularly, ideally daily or close to it, with simplified Chinese captions and covers that read well in a two-column grid.
• Reply to every comment. Early commenters become your first 老铁.
• Study the top Kuaishou creators in your niche: how they talk to followers and how long their videos run.

Days 31 to 60: start a weekly live

• Once verification allows it, go live at a fixed weekly slot, even with ten viewers.
• Clip each live into two or three short videos.
• Collaborate with a creator of similar size. Kuaishou's own filings describe multi-host and group live streaming as core live categories.

Days 61 to 90: earn trust before you monetise

• Look at which videos earned follows and make more of those.
• Try one honest product recommendation through 快分销 if you're verified, on something you genuinely use.
• Ask your regulars what they want next. On a private-domain platform, they'll tell you.

Run your other platforms alongside this. Many creators use Kuaishou as one leg of a multi-platform presence, and our guide to Chinese social media platforms helps you decide where Kuaishou fits next to Douyin, Bilibili and Xiaohongshu.

The shortcut to skip: fake engagement

Kuaishou takes inauthentic growth seriously. In December 2021 it published a notice on cracking down on bought followers, bought likes and account trading (《关于打击刷粉刷赞账号交易等黑产行为的公告》), saying it would strengthen monitoring for abnormal follower growth and punish violations with feature bans and permanent account bans. Its community rules (社区规范) cover profile content, live behaviour and more, and its merchant rules add a separate layer for anyone selling.

That matters more on Kuaishou than almost anywhere, because the whole platform runs on trust between a creator and their followers. A bought follower can't become a 老铁. It won't join your fan club, won't show up to your live and won't buy anything, and abnormal follower jumps are exactly what Kuaishou says it monitors. LitFame doesn't sell services for Kuaishou or other Chinese platforms, and we'd steer you away from anyone who does. If you want help with momentum, use it where it fits: on the platforms you already run in the West, through LitFame's TikTok services for example, while you grow Kuaishou the slow, real way.

Kwai: Kuaishou outside China

Kwai is Kuaishou's international app, separate from the Chinese Kuaishou app. Its flagship market is Brazil. Caixin reported in December 2025 that Kwai has about 60 million monthly active users in Brazil, citing third-party data provided by the company, and that it has added e-commerce there. Kuaishou's own fourth-quarter 2025 results call Brazil its "key market for overseas development".

Keep the scale in perspective. Kuaishou reported overseas revenue of RMB5.07 billion for full-year 2025, against RMB137.7 billion domestically, and RMB1.18 billion in the second quarter of 2026. Kwai is a separate audience, so growing there doesn't help your Chinese Kuaishou account. If you speak Portuguese or Spanish, though, Kwai is a far easier platform to join than Kuaishou itself, and the community-first culture carries over.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can foreigners use Kuaishou?

Yes, the app is downloadable outside China and accounts are tied to a phone number. Real-name verification is the hard part: it's required for selling for commission and going live, and it's built around Chinese ID. Some users report verifying with non-mainland numbers and passports, but Kuaishou doesn't publish a clear path for foreigners, so check in the app first.

How many users does Kuaishou have?

Kuaishou's second-quarter 2026 results reported average daily active users of 412.3 million and average monthly active users of 797.3 million on the Kuaishou app. For full-year 2025, it reported average DAUs of 410.2 million.

What does 老铁 mean on Kuaishou?

老铁 (lǎo tiě, "old iron") is northeastern Chinese slang for a close, reliable friend, a bit like "bro". On Kuaishou, creators and viewers use it to address each other, and it captures the platform's loyalty-first culture. "老铁，双击666" roughly means "bros, double-tap if that was smooth."

What is the difference between Kuaishou and Douyin?

Both are Chinese short-video apps with live streaming and shopping. Kuaishou has a reputation for lower-tier cities, rural audiences and strong creator-follower loyalty, and it began with a two-column feed. Douyin, owned by ByteDance, is known for big-city, trend-led content and a full-screen swipe feed.

How do you make money on Kuaishou?

The main routes are live-stream gifts bought with Kuaishou coins, selling products for commission through Kuaishou Shop and its 快分销 distribution permission, running your own shop, and brand deals through the 磁力聚星 marketplace. Each route requires real-name verification, and Kuaishou doesn't publish a single public gift revenue split.

Does buying followers work on Kuaishou?

It's a bad idea. Kuaishou's December 2021 notice said it would monitor abnormal follower growth and punish bought followers and likes with feature bans or permanent account bans. Bought followers also can't buy, gift or show up to lives, which is where Kuaishou value comes from. LitFame doesn't sell Kuaishou services.

Is Kwai the same as Kuaishou?

Kwai is Kuaishou's international app, run by the same company but with a separate audience and separate accounts. Its biggest market is Brazil, where Caixin reported about 60 million monthly active users in December 2025. Growth on Kwai doesn't carry over to the Chinese Kuaishou app.