To leverage its immense popularity in the U.S., TikTok parent company ByteDance is launching another platform—Lemon8.
Key Details
- ByteDance has begun sending invitations to influencers to join the new platform and accumulate content on the app, but it has not officially launched in the U.S.
- The platform is similar to Instagram and Pinterest, focusing on pictures and offering more text than TikTok.
- Its “ideal creator portrait” is a 22- to 26-year-old woman in the New York or Los Angeles area with a focus on fashion or beauty, according to presentations that Lemon8 shared with marketing agencies.
- The presentations say the Lemon8 vision is “to build the most inspiring and informative platform to discover, share, and bring ideas to life.”
Why it’s news
Despite many American regulators attempting to ban ByteDance’s TikTok app in the U.S., the company is pushing forward with more social media launches looking to build its presence in the U.S.
TikTok has amassed 150 million monthly U.S. users, and ByteDance is eager to replicate its success with Lemon8. The app is available for download but hasn’t officially launched yet in America.
ByteDance has begun sending emails to influencers inviting them to join the new app and accumulating content for its official launch. The app’s goal is to become a top global social media service and cited the success of its “sister company TikTok.”
The app will be similar to TikTok, using the same recommendation engines that have helped the app succeed, but instead of being focused on videos, Lemon8 is centered on photos and blog posts similar to popular apps Instagram and Pinterest.
The app features two columns of content and is filled with product recommendations, tips, and posts to fuel shopping. The app will be promoted to younger women with a focus on fashion or beauty, according to representatives from the app.
Lemon8 was introduced in Japan in April 2020 and reached five million monthly active users worldwide last year as it expanded to other countries, including Britain, Singapore, and Indonesia, according to The New York Times.
Hundreds of U.S. TikTok users have reportedly signed up for the app, and TikTok creators are sharing their accounts and asking users to follow them on Lemon8.
The app is focusing on accumulating content and creators over the next few months and, in September, will turn its attention to “commercialization opportunities,” like helping creators make money from brand and agency deals, and presumably other forms of advertising, according to app representatives.
ByteDance’s push for a bigger social media presence in the U.S. shows that the company might not be too worried about American regulators attempting to ban TikTok or force Chinese owners to sell it.
Many regulators are pushing for the app’s ban because ByteDance is a Chinese company stating that TikTok is using American’s private data, but TikTok representatives are trying to assure the U.S. that their data remains safe and unused.
Despite ByteDance’s reassurance, many regulators remain firm that they want TikTok banned and feel that Lemon8 has some of the same issues—stemming more concerns over the new app.
Along with the security concerns over ByteDance’s platforms, many other regulators believe the apps can also work as a hub to spread misinformation and Chinese propaganda, thus furthering the notion of banning the apps.
“It’s a social media platform like Instagram, it has to do with gathering information on users, and it has the same ownership structure, being a child of ByteDance, so I think the same issues are going to come up,” says former Biden tech adviser Lindsay Gorman. “Ultimately with social media platforms in particular, they involve content, and eventually that’s always going to lead to political content and news content.”
