Lemon8 launches in the United States and is a reminder for students to play to their core on social media
It’s no secret that TikTok has completely changed the landscape of social media in recent years. And its parent company is poised to do it again.
ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, the app where 67% of students aged 13-17 hang out, recently released Lemon8, an Instagram-like lifestyle app, in the United States. This app features topics like food, fashion, and travel. For its launch in the United States market, ByteDance is implementing strategies to get students to sign up for the app, like paying TikTok influencers to be “launching creators” and encouraging their followers to download Lemon8.
When influencers push content, products, or ideas onto their followers, it can be difficult for students to remember to critically evaluate the information presented to them. By playing to their core and finding their influencers, students can remember to stay true to their values and think independently when using social media.
All About Lemon8
ByteDance, the company that owns popular apps like TikTok and CapCut, recently launched Lemon8 in the United States. Some have described the app as a mix between Pinterest and Instagram, with featured topics such as fashion, beauty, food, wellness, and travel. Lemon8 features nicely curated, aesthetically pleasing content and allows influencers to tag where they got their favorite products in their posts.
ByteDance is hoping its Instagram-like style will influence students to migrate away from the US-based app. Whether it will be able to do so is up for debate, however, it may have a leg up— Lemon8 is using its relationship with sister-app TikTok to recruit influencers to push the app towards their followers and influence students to make the switch.
TikTok influencers have been getting involved in Lemon8 marketing by signing up to be a creator, getting paid a small stipend for posting on it, and then urging their followers to download the app. Crystal Suggs, a lifestyle creator from Houston, said she received an email from a marketing firm that offered her the opportunity to be a Lemon8 creator. Suggs turned the offer down due to its impersonal nature. However, hundreds of other creators in the US have already signed up and, if selected, will help contribute to the app’s content and follower count.
TSI’s Take
When influencers have monetary incentives to post and push content toward their followers, like some Lemon8 creators, students may feel influenced to do what they say, even if it doesn’t align with their personal values and beliefs. It is important for students to stay true to themselves and make decisions based on what is right for them, and not simply because an influencer is promoting it.
In our #WinAtSocial Lesson, Overcoming the fear of missing out on texts, apps, and time with friends, students discuss the pressures technology can create and how they can prioritize different opportunities based on their values and goals. You can empower students to play to their core by encouraging them to:
- Identify the values that are important to them
- Assess the different apps they use and influencers they interact with to ensure they align with those values
- Use features and apps that help them balance technology so they can reach their goals
If you’d like to read more about how students pick and choose the influencers they interact with, read these insights from TSI’s Student Ambassadors. In the interview, Esther and Oliver share their personal experiences with finding role models online, their positive approach to social media, and what they wish adults knew when it comes to student well-being.
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The Social Institute (TSI) is the leader in understanding student experiences and creator of #WinAtSocial, a gamified, online learning platform that equips students, educators, and families to navigate social experiences — online and offline — in healthy ways. Our unique, student-respected approach incorporates topics like social media, technology use, and current events that have a significant impact on student well-being. Lessons teach life skills for the modern day to inspire high-character decisions that support the health, happiness, and future success of students, while capturing data that provides insights to school leaders to inform school policy and communications, and enable high-impact teaching and a healthy learning environment. For schools, our turnkey technology allows for easy implementation and a comprehensive game plan to support the well-being of school communities. For schools, our turnkey technology allows for easy implementation and a comprehensive game plan to support the well-being of school communities.