This Facebook feature will stop working on October 1

“As consumers’ viewing behaviours are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s short-form video product”, it said in the blog post. “If you want to reach and engage people through video, try experimenting with Reels and Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can also tag products in Reels on Instagram to enable deeper discovery and consideration. If you have a shop with checkout and want to host live shopping events on Instagram, you can set up live shopping on Instagram”.

Livestream shopping feature on Facebook was first introduced in 2018 in Thailand. Two years later, it was rolled out publicly to more users in 2020. The feature was aimed to offer creators and brands an interactive tool to sell items while connecting with viewers and gaining new potential customers. Ever since its launch, the company has been testing new features. In November 2021, Facebook tested ‘Live Shopping for Creators’. It also introduced ‘Live Shopping Fridays’ last year to promote large brands to give the feature a try.

Other than Facebook, TikTok is also rumoured to drop its plan to expand live e-commerce tool ‘TikTok Shop’. The feature was rolled out to users in UK last year. It allows influencers to sell products through QVC-style livestreams.

Meanwhile, Meta Platforms Inc. is reportedly changing the way Facebook shows users posts and videos on its flagship social network, part of an effort to better compete with the video app TikTok. Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on July 21 announced, “we’re making it easier for you to control what content you see and discover on Facebook. We’re introducing Feeds, a new tab that lets you easily see the most recent posts from your friends, Pages and groups.”

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