What if you were to create a hybrid of Instagram and Pinterest, with a strong emphasis on shopping, beauty, health, or food topics, and an extremely curated look? What you are envisioning may be similar to Lemon8, the social network that has recently launched in the UK and US.

At a time when many are predicting the demise of social media, Lemon8 is taking a different approach by betting on the existence of a platform that prioritizes a “top-to-bottom” relationship between a select few creators and influencers, and the bulk of users who primarily seek a source of inspiration for purchases. This approach seems to disregard the mass of users generating content but it recognizes the potential for a space that focuses on curated content production.

At least this seems to be the vision of the developers of Lemon8. Although the app was initially launched in 2020, it only arrived in Singapore, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in February this year (with an official launch in the US scheduled for May). According to internal documents viewed by the New York Times, Lemon8 is currently in the “accumulation” phase for the English-language version. This critical period requires attracting initial users to consistently publish content, preventing a deserted platform upon official launch.

So how does one entice users to publish content regularly before the official launch? One strategy is to pay established creators who are active on other platforms to transfer at least some of their content to this new platform. In fact, some of the most popular English-speaking creators have received messages from scouting communications agencies such as “ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, invites you to become a launching creator on their new Lemon8 platform before it officially rolls out in the United States!”.

As you may have noticed, the company behind Lemon8 has a heavyweight name: ByteDance, the Chinese giant responsible for the phenomenal global triumph of TikTok. Once again, ByteDance, founded by Zhang Yiming, is attempting to conquer the Silicon Valley social media and tech behemoth market, while navigating the various obstacles faced by all traditional social networks, including Instagram.

Lemon8 is not a newcomer in the social media world. It was actually launched in April 2020 and has already been present in several Asian countries, with the majority of its user base residing in Japan. In fact, 36.5 percent of the platform’s five million users live in Japan. Recently, the app has entered the top 10 most downloaded apps in the US App Store too.

In short, Lemon8 is a social app that allows users to share photos and videos. However, unlike TikTok, it doesn’t support vertical scrolling. The app is divided into two sections, where users can find algorithmically recommended content or content created by users they follow. The content mainly focuses on niche topics related to the female world, such as fashion, beauty, and health. Creators and influencers can tag the places where they bought their clothes or got their nails done, generating business partnerships. According to ZDNet, “Lemon8 is most akin to Instagram in that the content created on the app aims to influence you to buy something to be more similar to your favorite influencer”.

This is likely the business model that Lemon8 aims to pursue, especially in terms of revenue opportunities for influencers. It is still too early to have a clear understanding of how this platform will be monetized, but it is probable that the monetization strategy will rely not only on advertising but also on commissions related to e-commerce.

If that’s the case, Lemon8 could also introduce to the West the so-called “zhongcao culture”, the ability of platforms to cultivate (which is the meaning of Zhongcao, plant grass) the desire to purchase products promoted by friends or influencers on social media.

Of course, this is not a new phenomenon (as it forms the basis of many influencers’ work). However, it has reached its peak in China through the so-called “social commerce”, which promotes purchasing directly from social platforms and is the driving force behind the success of hugely popular apps such as Xiaohongshu (literally “Little Red Book”, with 260 million monthly users).

ByteDance’s desire to expand its social and commercial influence in the West is a matter of concern not only for its Silicon Valley competitors but also for lawmakers, particularly in the U.S., who have been grappling with how to deal with TikTok. The popular app has faced allegations of being a tool for Beijing’s espionage and disinformation and has been repeatedly threatened with a ban.

“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,” Lindsay Gorman, a former technology adviser to the Biden administration, told the New York Times.

It remains to be seen what the response will be to the arrival of a second social media platform linked to ByteDance, which has been causing headaches for both established Silicon Valley giants (including Meta) and political leaders across the Western world.

Opening image: photo by Koshiro on Adobe Stock