Everything you need to know about this new social media

It hasn’t been released in the Netherlands yet, but it won’t be long before: the new social media app Lemon8. While TikTok owner ByteDance has been criticized for TikTok in the US, it has happily launched a new app in the country. It’s called Lemon8 (lemon-eight, sounds like: lemon). And how it works.

Lemon 8

Lemon8 makes it possible to share videos and photos. It first appeared in Japan (in 2020), but is also available outside of Asia from February 2023. Currently, only people in the United Kingdom or the United States can use this app, but it is now spreading like wildfire among the youth there and is easily spreading to Europe as well. So you know exactly what’s coming and how to turn lemonade into that sweet drink.

The description of the social media site sounds like a copy of Instagram: “A place for young creatives to share a variety of content. From fashion, make-up, food and travel, to home goods, pets and everything you can imagine”. Things you don’t see on Insta or Tik Tok don’t seem like the most original social media.

Lemon8 focuses more on photography than videos and has a ‘following’ and ‘for you’ section on social media, which we know from TikTok. It seems that Byte Dance has heard people’s complaints about Instagram’s ‘videofication’: then aren’t we going to jump into that gaping photo hole that Instagram leaves behind?

Instagram meets Pinterest

Lemon8 works like this: You create an account, then go to About and Follow and add photos and videos to your profile by pressing the plus sign. It is still possible to edit it and post it. It seems that other social media and Lemon8. The same goes for the way you can follow people and search for certain topics. Is Lemon8 actually doing something completely different?

To be honest, not really. It’s really kind of Instagram meets Pinterest and you can do really interesting things visually, but it doesn’t update anything about social media. But: If you’re looking for a combination of Pin and Insta, Lemon8 is a gift from heaven. Yes, it’s more for those who like old photo-minded Instagram than the massive do-it-all app it’s now become.

TikTok’s algorithm

It is good to know that this app uses the same algorithm as TikTok. It’s another social media app because TikTok allows you to scroll for hours for some reason, while Instagram is a bit less so. If Lemon8 can do that for photo content, it will surely gain a lot of ‘followers’.

First we have to wait and see if this app is ready for further rollout. It now has 5 million downloads in the United States, so there’s definitely growth there, but it’s still a long way from the 210 million times TikTok now counters in that country. Plus, who knows if Lemon8 will be allowed to stay in the US. After all, we are working hard to take TikTok out.