I attempted Lemon8, billed as TikTok's new buzzy sister app, and I'm sorry to report that I merely don’t perceive the purpose

I arrange a Lemon8 account, hoping to seek out content material associated to my pursuits.

Once I made my account on Lemon8, the app first requested me to enter some fundamental details about myself, together with my date of beginning and pronouns, earlier than asking me to pick out a few of my “pursuits” primarily based on an inventory of classes.

My first thought was that among the classes have been fairly comparable (e.g. make-up and skincare) which urged to me that the content material I might be seeing on Lemon8 could be extra slim in focus than TikTok.

As soon as I chosen my choices, the app took me to a “For You,” web page, which recommends content material primarily based on my pursuits. Like TikTok, the app adjusts its suggestions primarily based on the posts you work together with, based on its description on the Apple App Retailer. 

Once I first logged on, I noticed an array of posts that each one appeared very comparable. There have been quite a lot of “Get Prepared With Me” slideshows and “room inspiration posts,” and I positively did not really feel I used to be accessing the identical number of content material I get on TikTok, even after per week of utilizing the app. 

That stated, I wonder if it is nonetheless a bit too new — TikTok primarily began off as a dancing and lip-syncing app however now has creators making movies throughout any and each style.  Maybe it is going to take a while for Lemon8 creators to diversify and discover their niches. 

I believed the Lemon8 “For You” web page had an especially cute vibe.

Regardless of beforehand complaining concerning the infinite room inspiration posts on the Lemon8 “For You” web page, I do must say they have been all very nice to take a look at, even when they have been a bit too copious.

Most posts I noticed on Lemon8 have been extraordinarily aesthetically-driven, as creators used labels, stickers, and results to make their images as visually stimulating as attainable. 

The aesthetic vibes have been positively harking back to Pinterest to me, whereas the way in which creators can personalize their pictures and put them collectively in a slideshow format was extra just like Instagram. 

It did differ from Instagram in not less than a method, although — whereas Lemon8 is paying creators to submit content material, based on a report from Insider’s Marta Biino, its “For You” web page advisable me content material by a refreshing variety of seemingly atypical folks, as an alternative of the continuous sponsored content material from huge influencers that many have referred to as inauthentic and have criticized Instagram for. 

From exploring my “For You” web page over a number of days, I concluded that Lemon8 is basically a platform for running a blog in a visible manner. Creators share pictures of places on their journey bucket lists or photos to assist their description of their favourite brownie recipes, to provide extremely personalised posts that different folks will hopefully discover and admire. 

I might positively perceive why it would attraction to individuals who love curating content material as a solution to share about their lives. 

I hesitantly determined to make some posts on Lemon8 as a result of it appeared just like the factor to do on the app.

I am going to admit it: I hate making posts on social media. 

I can very hardly ever be bothered to place collectively a submit of my vacation images for Instagram, and I by no means submit on TikTok, regardless of utilizing the app on daily basis, as a result of I personally do not love the concept of placing my life on the market in public like that. 

All this to say, I am positively extra of a shopper than a creator in relation to my social media use. 

Nevertheless, after a number of days on Lemon8, I discovered that scrolling by way of the “For You” web page or trying by way of common hashtags did not preserve me entertained for very lengthy, largely because of the repetitive nature of posts that I discussed earlier. 

It appeared to me like all of the enjoyable on Lemon8 was occurring within the curation course of. I wished to try to make some cute and aesthetic slideshows to see if my efforts might match as much as the polished posts I used to be seeing on my feed. 

Impressed by the temper of different posts I noticed on the app, I made two Lemon8 posts over the week: a slideshow of images taken on my current journey to Dublin, Eire, and a slideshow representing an inventory of bucket record actions I used to be in a position to tick off earlier than my twenty third birthday. 

I discovered making posts on Lemon8 time-consuming and considerably tedious.

One actually distinctive factor about Lemon8 in my expertise utilizing it’s the sheer quantity of customization you are able to do in your posts. 

Once I chosen pictures I wished to make use of for my slideshows, I discovered numerous filters, results, stickers, and textual content templates that I might select from to put over them, with much more choices than you’d get on Instagram.

The app’s description markets this as an enormous bonus, because it means you do not have to obtain a secondary app for enhancing your posts earlier than importing them. However for me, the huge variety of choices was extra of a hindrance than a assist, as I rapidly felt overwhelmed by all the probabilities. I discovered myself placing a lot of stickers and labels on to utilize them, earlier than deciding it was an excessive amount of and deleting them. 

I might typically then return on myself and resolve the submit now appeared too plain, including some stickers again on, continuing to commute with my sense of creative style about what to do subsequent. 

By the point I might edited only one picture for every of my slideshow posts, I used to be exhausted and misplaced a major quantity of curiosity in curating them to perfection. The method of utilizing the textual content templates and filters was fairly fiddly and positively required extra of a ardour for photograph enhancing than I had inside me. 

It did not really feel like Lemon8 was the most effective place for interacting with different creators.

The app inspired me to place hashtags below my posts to extend the probabilities of different folks seeing them once they looked for the related tags. 

After exploring the tags myself, I seen that there wasn’t an enormous quantity of interplay occurring between creators. Apart from having the ability to touch upon, like, or save one other creator’s submit, there have been no different methods to start out conversations.

Whereas apps like Instagram have personal messaging capabilities, and TikTok has its distinct “sew” and “duet” capabilities which permit creators to react to different folks’s posts in a video of their very own, the Lemon8 area felt very quiet, even after I joined in by making some posts. 

Total I feel Lemon8 has some perks nevertheless it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.

Though Lemon8 emerged amid fears concerning the potential ban of TikTok, it positively is not a substitute for it and has a totally completely different really feel altogether. 

The app is definitely fascinating, and if I have been a giant fan of Pinterest or of creating my very own curated content material, I might in all probability have loved it extra. 

Nevertheless, as extra of a TikTok-lover who enjoys having the ability to watch content material with out the strain to create any, I do not assume Lemon8 was an important match for me. 

And so far as “social” media apps go, I do assume it has an extended solution to go earlier than it is in a position to enable creators to construct communities or dedicated follower bases, because of the present lack of in-depth interplay that is out there. 

Lemon8 definitely would not appear to be taking over the widespread attraction of the likes of BeReal, one other photo-sharing app that blew up in 2022 — whereas all my associates downloaded BeReal that 12 months and submit on it each day with out fail to at the present time, nobody in my friendship circle has downloaded Lemon8, significantly due to the quantity of effort they’ve heard it takes to take care of an account. 

The attraction of Lemon8 already appears to be fading on a wider scale too.

Though Lemon8 was dubbed the following huge factor by some social media customers, buzz across the app seems to have already died down within the months because it launched. 

Insider reported that Lemon8 was within the high 50 on Apple’s high free apps record in mid-April, nevertheless it’s now now not on the record, which exhibits the highest 100 apps on the shop. 

5 creators being paid to submit on Lemon8 advised Insider’s Marta Biino that crafting content material for Lemon8 was considerably extra time-consuming and required extra effort than posting on different social media platforms. Two of them stated they weren’t certain creating this content material was price their time, whereas three others stated they’d excessive hopes for the platform to develop. 

In the meanwhile although, evidently Lemon8’s destiny is transferring in a decidedly completely different course from BeReal, and much more so from its vastly common sister product, presently Apple’s 4th most-popular free app, TikTok. 

As for me, after per week, I felt underwhelmed and unexcited by what Lemon8 provided me, and have turned my consideration again to TikTok as an alternative. 

For extra tales like this, try protection from Insider’s Digital Tradition crew right here.