Facebook is shutting down its live shopping feature, which lets creators offer and sell products to an audience, to shift focus to Reels.
“As consumers’ viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s short-form video product,” the app explains. The live shopping feature will be no more on Facebook in October; however, it will still be available on Instagram.
The shutdown highlights Facebook’s dedication to its short-form video feature, Reels, which it officially brought to the platform last year. The company has also considered making its algorithm more like TikTok, something its parent company, Meta, has already done to Instagram.
A week ago, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook and Instagram feeds will double the content from unknown users by the end of 2023.
The new feature is intended to compete with TikTok’s heavy use of artificial intelligence (AI) to serve up videos regardless of where they come from. Zuckerberg indicated that “Al finds additional content that people find interesting, that increases engagement and the quality of our feeds.”
In like manner, Instagram announced that it will sideline features after users, including Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, complained that they look too much like TikTok.
Users posted messages on social media, calling for the company to “make Instagram Instagram again” and stop trying to be like TikTok. The slogan sprang from a change.org petition that had received more than 229,000 signatures.
