According to South China Morning Post, which cited a company registration, ByteDance is getting ready to introduce a new social media platform targeting the younger demographic.
The new Instagram-like network, called Kesong, would allow users to exchange photos and articles on subjects including “trendy outfits, surfing advice, and novel gadgets.”
The operator of well-known social networking applications like TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin, ByteDance, has not yet provided a launch date for the new platform. However, the app’s official introduction page indicates that it will be released “this scorching summer,” hinting that it will soon be ready.
Kesong will also face competition from the more than 200 million monthly active users of the local Xiaohongshu social e-commerce network modelled after Instagram.
With Xincao in 2018 and Xintu in 2019, ByteDance previously made similar attempts to provide an Instagram-like service in China, but neither platform was successful. However, its international version Lemon8 has become more popular elsewhere, particularly in Japan and Southeast Asia.
