Back in March, as TikTok CEO Show Zi Chew sparred with regulators in Washington, the app’s American users discovered a solution to a potential ban: Lemon8. Like TikTok, Lemon8 is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, and both apps combine social features with streamlined “For You” feeds.
Questions about TikTok’s future in the U.S. drove a surge of new users to Lemon8, and ByteDance looked to capitalize on the opportunity. It hired a U.S.-based creator partnerships team, hoping to attract influencers to its upstart platform.
Four months later, the TikTok ban proposed in March seems to be at an impasse. Meanwhile, Lemon8 is losing steam, too. The app has experienced a significant drop-off since March. According to Rest of World, which cited data firm Similarweb, Lemon8 has fallen to about 6,300 daily active users. For comparison, it counted nearly 12,000 DAUs back in April.
Subscribe to get the latest creator news
Some Lemon8 users have struggled to find new content on their For You feeds. Instead, they’re spotting reposts from inactive accounts and wondering whether the app’s 15 minutes are already up.
There are a few potential culprits for Lemon8’s declining DAUs. The most obvious explanation is that the app’s peak — mostly driven by hype — was always unsustainable. Users interviewed by Rest of World have put forth their own hypotheses. Marketer Allison Thompkins contended that Lemon8’s recommendation algorithm falls short of TikTok’s. “I am seeing the same thing in my feed over and over, and it’s just not a good user experience for me,” Thompkins told Rest of World.
Other Lemon8 critics have argued that the app caters to creators by presenting a more polished and curated experience than TikTok. The result, according to Mashable, is a feed that “seems to be aimed at a constant journey of self-improvement and self-optimization, which, to be frank, sucks.”
But Lemon8 still has plenty of defenders. Its blend of social elements, which combines aspects of Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Chinese social shopping platforms like Xiaohongshu, has proven refreshing for some users. Posts are often accompanied by long-form captions that hearken back to the heyday of micro-blogging. “I love longer posts and writing down my thoughts,” Lemon8 user Meli Mae told Mashable. “It’s one of the best features of the app for me.”
Lemon8 also invites friendly chatter by eschewing direct messages in favor of expanded comment sections. “The comments are more conversational, but I don’t know if that’s because people on Instagram don’t feel as comfortable [posting longer captions], so it doesn’t really start a conversation,” fashion creator Alexa Monet told Mashable. “But I do feel like on Lemon8, people feel more comfortable actually talking.”
Lemon8, like TikTok, also has big potential in the music business. Some observers are encouraging artists to add the young platform to their social media operations.
As Lemon8’s culture takes shape, ByteDance will continue to court more users for its Instagram-Pinterest hybrid. Rest of World highlighted Lemon8’s presence on marketing platform Cohley, where influencers can get paid small sums (~$45) by posting “high-quality” content that meets specific aesthetic stipulations.
Those trickles of monetization are nice, but Lemon8 will eventually need a stronger source of organic growth if it is to become ByteDance’s next killer app. In the meantime, current users are hoping that the fledgling Lemon8 community will exercise patience. “I’ve been seeing A LOT of posts saying ‘Is Lemon8 dead?’ and I’m over here like, didn’t this app JUST come out?” asked a user named MelissaKCreates. “I think that what these creators may be missing is the Lemon8 ‘vibe’. Since I’ve been on this app, I haven’t posted consistently, I’m not adamant about growing my following, but more interested in what people have to share.”
