Meta has announced that it is shutting down the live shopping experience on Instagram. The company said in a support page on its photo and video sharing platform that live shopping on Instagram will stop from March 16, 2023.
“Starting March 16, 2023, you will no longer be able to tag products in Live broadcasts on Instagram,” Instagram wrote “You’ll still be able to set up and run your shop on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences for people and businesses across Feed, Stories, Reels, ads and more,” adding in a support page.
In addition, the company said that other live broadcast features remain unaffected, “including the ability to schedule live broadcasts, invite guests to join your live broadcasts, and conduct live Q&A.”
What’s changing?
This means that come March 16, Meta, Instagram users will no longer be able to shop as a company or a business hosts a live broadcast on the platform. But this does not mean that users will not be able to shop on Instagram. Instead, they have to wait until the business shares the link on its page so users can shop the newly introduced items. The rest of the shopping experience, including businesses sharing shoppable links, will remain the same.
Why is this happening?
Meta did not elaborate on the reason for discontinuing this experience. In its support page, the company said it was making this change to “focus on the products and features that provide the most value to our users.” This indicates that the move may be a part of the company’s cost-cutting measures, in which it is diverting its resources from working on functionalities that have not been discontinued or are no longer being used in a way, Especially in the post-pandemic era.
This is not the only change.
It’s worth noting that Meta hasn’t changed the shopping experience on Instagram in the recent past. Earlier this year, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said that Instagram is removing the dedicated shopping tab from the home screen.
Also, last year Meta shut down the Live Shopping Experience on Facebook. Instead, it asked merchants to showcase products on Instagram Reels through Reels, Reels ads, and product tagging.
The post Instagram Is Shutting Down Its Live Shopping Experience in March: How Will It Affect You appeared first on Techlusive.
