Of late, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is touting a new lifestyle community app called Lemon8 in the UK and the US markets.
The app, which was first launched in Japan in 2020, instantly hit five million monthly active users worldwide, as per a March 2023 report by The New York Times.
Following its success, Lemon8 expanded to other countries including Britain, Singapore and Indonesia. And after its launch in the US and the UK in April 2023, the app is becoming one of the most downloaded apps of the App Store.
More about the Lemon8 app
Lemon8 is a new photo and video-sharing app that blends Instagram and Pinterest, and calls itself a content sharing platform for a “youthful community.”
According to its app store description, Lemon8 is a “place for young creatives to share a diversity of content from fashion, makeup, food and travel to homeware, pets and anything else you can imagine!”
According to a July 2022 report by Reuters, Lemon8 is ByteDance’s attempt to compete with China’s lifestyle recommendation and shopping app, Xiaohongshu, which is popular as Red in countries like the US, Canada and Australia.
The hashtag ‘#lemon8’ is trending across social media
これ実は…ディズニーでやっちゃダメ
1.パークは走っちゃダメ!
小さいお子さまや体が不自由な方もいらっしゃいます!
不慮の事故がないよう、急いでても歩きましょう!(あみの家@ゆるディズニー大好き)
続きはこちら→https://t.co/YEIjR9ADpU#Lemon8 #Lemon8旅行ガイド pic.twitter.com/452B4DSiw4
— Lemon8_Japan (@Lemon8_Japan) April 15, 2023
According to the The New York Times report, famous influencers are trying to woo viewers by creating content about Lemon8 after being paid by the app. However, they have to create content by following certain guidelines which include making 10 posts per month with captions of over 150 words and slideshows with three to 10 pictures.
The ‘#lemon8’ hashtag in TikTok has crossed around 2.4 billion views, as per Forbes.
Data firm Apptopia reported that Lemon8 has garnered over 16 million downloads since its launch in 2020, with Japan serving as its largest market. The app has also hit around 4.25 million active users in the US.
How to download the app?
Lemon8 is available for download from the App Store and has a 4.3 rating.
Once users sign up, they have to select their major interests from a list on the screen. Following this, they can see a personalised feed created for them. The feed would include videos and static photos with a large caption space for content creators to write detailed and meaningful descriptions.
As per various sources, Lemon8 uses ByteDance’s AI technology to create personal recommendations for users in an algorithm that is similar to TikTok.
(Main and featured image credit: App Store)