ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has just launched Lemon8, a new photo-oriented social network, at the crossroads of Instagram and Pinterest. Not sure he wins given the possible banishment of his big brother…
It is with great discretion that the big family of social networks welcomes a new kid, I named Lemon8. Developed by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, the platform is intended to be halfway between Instagram – from which it uses the visual and codes – and Pinterest – for the incentive to purchase -, while taking advantage of effective algorithms of his eldest. In short, a TikTok for photos! Currently reserved for Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, it will soon be available in the United States and the United Kingdom – France will have to wait, and that’s not a bad thing! But ByteDance is already preparing its official launch by bringing together many influencers with thousands of subscribers on the platform, promoting fashion, beauty, food, well-being, travel and shopping. But given the tensions between Beijing and Joe Biden’s government, and the possible ban on TikTok on American territory, ByteDance will have to play it very strategically to establish Lemon8 there…
Lemon8: a mix of Instagram and Pinterest
Before a great launch of Lemon8, ByteDance wants to refine its strategy and gather around its application a solid – and above all influential – community. As reported by New York Times, the Chinese giant intends to take advantage of the month of April to accumulate content and then, in May, launch a major advertising campaign to attract new users en masse. Also, influencers are currently invited to post an application on the platform in order to make publications there during the month of April. On TikTok, many creators have started promoting Lemon8, which is already the tenth most downloaded app in the US across all categories. No wonder given that the platform pays creators for their publications!
Lemon8 is composed like TikTok, with two columns: “Following”, where the accounts to which the user is subscribed are, and “For you”, with content suggested by the algorithms. The platform is also inspired without hiding from Instagram, especially for the user profiles page – which is ironic given that Meta’s social network has copied TikTok a lot. Each post can be accompanied by several images and text, which must strongly encourage users to buy – which is more than problematic at a time when overconsumption is driving us straight into the wall and influencers must be aware of the ecological impact of their activity, but also of their tremendous power of change that they have vis-à-vis their community.
Lemon8: the threat of banishment from TikTok
The launch of Lemon8 takes place in a somewhat particular context. Indeed, for several months, American lawmakers have been debating whether or not to ban TikTok on their territory, because of their fears of interference from the Chinese government. And if they ever decide to ban it, many other countries could follow suit. France has already taken the lead in banning any “recreational” application on civil servants’ professional smartphones, including TikTok (see our article).
This is likely to greatly complicate things for Lemon8, given that the social network will likely be blamed for the same thing as TikTok, namely ByteDance’s membership in the China Federation of Companies and the Internet. Indeed, according to the statutes of this organization, each member company undertakes to follow “the way of Xi Jinping” – the current President of China – while agreeing to be supervised by the Chinese Cyberspace Administration – the Chinese institution in charge of surveillance and censorship of the Web. As a result, lawmakers fear that Beijing will have access to users’ personal data – especially since TikTok had already acknowledged that it was accessed by some employees in China – and that it is using the platform to highlight political messages. Not sure that the arrival of Lemon8 is seen with a good eye…