In an effort to push Lemon8, ByteDance is now letting people log into the platform with their TikTok accounts. ByteDance is tightly integrating the two platforms against the backdrop of an ongoing legal battle in the U.S., threatening to put a nationwide ban on TikTok.
Lemon8 is a lot like Instagram down to its interface and content feed. It has short-form videos and photos too (with a focus on Pinterest-like idea posts). Think of it as a social media platform mixing Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram, except it has quick tags for sorting content by categories like fashion, food, travel, wellness, beauty, and so on. There’s an algorithm-driven “For You” page and a “Following” tab just like on TikTok.
With the Lemon8 update, you can now log into Lemon8 and TikTok with the same account. That also means you can log into TikTok with a Lemon8 account. “While Lemon8 will remain a separate app, TikTok and Lemon8 will share a unified user login. This means that creators can use one account to log into both platforms, enhancing their ability to cross-share content between the two apps,” ByteDance explained the new feature in a recent announcement.
Lemon8 came out four years ago, but it has only recently seen some aggressive advertising and integration. ByteDance has been running ads for this app within TikTok and TikTok creators themselves are promoting it. The U.S. market is supposedly the target of this revived Lemon8 advertising campaign. Since the beginning of this ad campaign almost a year ago, the app has been downloaded 6.4 million times within the U.S. and it’s trending upwards in U.S. app stores. At the same time, the app’s growth in other regions is falling.
With TikTok’s future uncertain, it seems that ByteDance is doubling down on an alternative where its TikTok users can move in the event of a ban. Sharing the same login will make moving easier and faster.
Source: ByteDance
