TikTok launched Lemon8, a Pinterest-meets-Instagram social media platform, in the course of its ongoing struggle to keep away from a ban within the U.S. Because it hit app shops within the U.S. and UK in February 2023, thousands and thousands of individuals have downloaded it to their telephones and cultivated a feed of aesthetically pleasing posts filled with productiveness ideas, morning routines, aspect hustle recommendation, and punctiliously curated, doodle-laden photograph dumps. Lemon8 is mainly the anti-BeReal — however with the very same issues.
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What’s Lemon8, and is it protected?
It’s a brand new solution to weblog
Meli Mae, or @meliiimae on Lemon8(opens in a brand new tab), downloaded the app in late March after seeing a TikTok video about it. She and her associates have been on the lookout for a brand new app to advertise their podcast on, in order that they signed up.
“It took me some time as a result of I acquired a bit intimidated by it as a result of every part was so aesthetically pleasing,” Mae advised Mashable. It took her a full week to craft her first submit, which she uploaded on April 6.
Her submit was a single picture with a six-point caption(opens in a brand new tab) describing her “large woman realizations” about “what’s lastly okay now that I am in my 30s.” The photograph is painstakingly edited to match the smooth aesthetic of the app, and the caption is so lengthy that it is virtually harking back to a microblog.
The primary submit Meli Mae, or @meliiimae, made on Lemon8.
Credit score: Screenshot / Lemon8 / @meliiimae
“There’s additionally that little Tumblr expertise the place individuals are bringing microblogging again once more,” Mae mentioned. “Which I actually, personally, love as a result of I like longer posts and writing down my ideas. It is among the finest options of the app for me. Visually, it’s extremely [reminiscent of] Pinterest and Instagram, however I believe the precise content material in itself… the running a blog expertise is coming again.”
It’s not a TikTok substitute
These sorts of posts are typical for Lemon8. The app permits customers to submit movies and particular person images with out doodles, but it surely’s clear from the promoted posts that meticulously edited carousels and images are prioritized by the app’s algorithm. Movies are virtually nowhere to be discovered within the For You feed — a pure determination contemplating its proprietor, ByteDance, doubtless would not need Lemon8 to be a TikTok competitor, however an interesting one throughout a time through which each different social media platform is making an attempt to Pivot To Video.
Inside 48 hours of posting her first picture, Mae gained what she considers a powerful following. With 768 followers and relying on the app, she says she loves the Lemon8 expertise a lot that she would not miss Instagram, which she deactivated earlier within the 12 months as a result of it is “so cringy to submit on.”
“As a result of individuals I do know in actual life comply with me [on Instagram],” Mae defined. “However on Lemon8, it is individuals which might be like-minded however do not truly know you. So there’s that veil of anonymity. Folks have the liberty to remark however genuinely, authentically wish to get to know you as a result of it is this new platform. We wish to create extra of a constructive ambiance.”
Lemon8 arrives amidst a storm of latest apps designed to interchange Instagram, Fb, and, sure, even TikTok. Vice’s i-D(opens in a brand new tab) described these new apps — together with Geneva, Diem, Melon, Pineapple, Partiful, Lex, and Someplace Good — as “saccharinely-positive, non-toxic social media apps for Gen Z.”
However it’s additionally arriving as lawmakers in additional than a dozen international locations have carried out numerous bans of TikTok on account of fears that the app is giving person knowledge to the Chinese language authorities, and one U.S. state handed a ban on downloading it. So in fact TikTok’s mother or father firm, China-based ByteDance, has now set its deal with a brand new app for Gen-Z.
It’s filled with aspirational way of life content material
The app is at the moment targeted on way of life and journey content material — and productiveness porn. The whole platform appears to be aimed toward a relentless journey of self-improvement and self-optimization, which, to be frank, sucks. The productiveness aesthetic tends to be aimed towards younger girls, driving them to manage their food regimen, train, sleep, hygiene, and perspective. It bears reminding, as Mashable has beforehand reported: Among the habits these productiveness aesthetics push customers to emulate truly are good for you. Consuming nicely and exercising and journaling and meditation have all been confirmed to be efficient types of self-care. However doing so with the intention of accelerating your productiveness will solely lead you deeper into the outlet you are attempting to dig your self out of.
And making an attempt to duplicate the performative aesthetics of creators who promote aspirational life which might be usually not attainable can take a toll on the psychological well being of customers and customers, with detrimental results on our psyches.
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Do not fall for the productiveness aesthetic. It is a rip-off.
My Lemon8 For You Web page.
Credit score: Screenshot / Lemon8
The For You Web page of Lemon8 is swimming with both these sorts of messages or posts about how you can submit on Lemon8; both dangerous or self-serving. That is, in fact, my private For You Web page, but it surely would not match up with the content material I am consumed different apps — together with TikTok and Instagram, whose algorithms feed me predominately frog movies in the intervening time. However these Lemon8 niches may not keep as they’re ceaselessly. Simply take a look at TikTok, an app that started with solely lip-syncing and dancing that now hosts content material throughout all sectors, from way of life to politics to popular culture to information, gaming, and a lot extra.
“Once I first acquired on [Lemon8] in February, it was largely floor stage content material, which, since then, has begun to get extra in-depth, extra area of interest content material,” Lexi Poer or @strollingsuburbs on Lemon8(opens in a brand new tab), a content material creator with greater than 103,000 followers on Instagram(opens in a brand new tab), advised Mashable.
A deeper neighborhood may emerge
There are some complaints on the app, significantly from customers who do not assume they’re getting sufficient engagement on posts, however total Poer has “actually loved” her time on Lemon8. Having fun with the app is fairly according to a lot of the customers I’ve spoken with for this piece.
Poer additionally says there’s a possibility for a nicer, tighter neighborhood on Lemon8, even though there is no solution to DM your mutuals on the app. As a substitute, you need to remark beneath somebody’s submit to begin a dialog. I hate this, however Mae loves it — as does Alexa Monet, or @alexamonet on Lemon8(opens in a brand new tab), a plus-size vogue YouTuber(opens in a brand new tab). Actually, the very causes I do not like Lemon8 are sometimes the driving forces behind why some individuals like it.
“The feedback [on Lemon8 posts] are extra conversational, however I do not know if that is as a result of individuals on Instagram do not feel as snug to submit [a] longer caption, so it would not actually begin a dialog,” Monet mused. “However I do really feel like on Lemon8, individuals really feel extra snug truly speaking [in the comments]. It is a deeper dialog.”
Lemon8 is totally not an app for me. However — in the event you like a slower social media expertise targeted on artistic posts, way of life content material, productiveness, the ins-and-outs of social media itself, and blog-like options — it is perhaps an app for you.