What is Lemon8? Here's why another ByteDance app is rising in popularity again

Lemon8 is a video and photo-sharing social media app. It doesn't support vertical video scrolling like TikTok, and the content created on the app usually centers around a specific topic. 

The app's top trending topics are fashion, beauty, food, wellness, and travel. Under each topic are suggestions, recommendations, get-ready-with-me-style videos, and perfectly curated, aesthetically pleasing content. 

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Fashion influencers on Lemon8 can "tag" where they bought their clothes and how much they cost. Lemon8 is most akin to Instagram in that the content created on the app aims to influence you to buy something that is more similar to your favorite influencer. 

Instagram is notorious for "contrived spontaneity," or the idea that a perfect moment or photo occurred naturally. Spectators are now more aware that most content on Instagram is edited or staged in some way, which has recently driven some users away from the app.

But those who enjoy aesthetically pleasing content can find it on Lemon8, free of the things they don't like about Instagram's interface.

Lemon8 is owned by ByteDance, the same company that owns TikTok. It is ByteDance's attempt to compete with US-based Instagram, an app owned by Meta. Meta is slowly losing approval among American users, and users are searching for alternatives. 

But if Lemon8 soars in popularity, its fate will be at just as much risk in the US as its sister company TikTok. Still, US users are looking for an app to fall on if TikTok disappears, and Lemon8 is capitalizing on the frenzy.

Lemon8 and TikTok are two very different apps that serve different audiences. TikTok is a short-form video platform first, and its algorithm is great at showing users the content they want to see.

Lemon8, on the other hand, is a photo-first platform. Additionally, the app heavily focuses on aesthetically pleasing lifestyle content, like fashion, makeup, skincare, and travel. In my experience using both apps, TikTok appeals to a more general audience -- anyone can go on TikTok and find creators and content they're interested in, even if it's a niche topic. 

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Lemon8's user base consists mostly of young women who use the app as a visual blog. You won't find content about sports, history, current events, or anything else. I kept Lemon8 downloaded on my phone for about a week before I realized the app wasn't for me.

Of course, every app has its pitfalls in the beginning. When it was first created, TikTok was an app for lip-syncing and dancing, but over the years, it's become a completely different platform. If TikTok goes under, a similar transformation could happen on Lemon8 -- if it doesn't get banned first.

According to the Associated Press, Lemon8 has around 1 million active users, far less than TikTok's 170 million active users. When Lemon8 first rose to popularity in 2023, it lacked big-name content creators, mainly because they found more success on TikTok and Instagram Reels.

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Smaller creators stuck to Lemon8, hoping to capitalize on being the first users, but the app never took off as planned. Additionally, Lemon8 doesn't have a formal monetization program, meaning influencers and users cannot make money from their Lemon8 content.