In its existence of nearly two decades, Facebook has many features to reap the most of billions of captive users on its platforms. Some of those features became extremely popular, but many failed to live up to the expectations despite looking highly promising at the time of the launch. Facebook Live shopping is one of those that fall under the disappointing bucket, and the company no more sees it as a viable business model.
The social network giant will be closing the Facebook Live shopping platform from October 1, 2022.
Both individuals and businesses have been in the position of hosting live streams that resemble QVC for the last two years. In contrast to normal Facebook Live videos, users could make playlists of their favorite products and also tag items.
However, from the 1st of October, it will no longer be possible to begin or even plan a live-streamed shopping event.
Facebook shifts its focus to Reels
Facebook has announced that it is pulling the curtains down on Facebook Live shopping to channel all its resources, and attention towards Reels videos instead.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta tech empire has been pushing Reels all over Facebook and Instagram lately in its attempt to keep pace with TikTok. The former COO of Meta – earlier known as Facebook then – openly expressed her concern about the rising popularity of TikTok and eventually becoming a threat to Meta’s dominance in the social media space.
“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,” Meta said.
The original idea of Facebook Live will remain intact and people looking for Facebook Live Shopping would be transferred to it instead. However, there won’t be any additional features related to shopping available either for brands or people.
“If you’re looking to connect with viewers through video, you should try trying out Reels as well as Reels adverts for Facebook or Instagram,” Facebook urges users.
“You may also add tags to items on Reels through Instagram to facilitate greater discovery and consideration.
“If you own a store that has a checkout, and you want to hold online shopping on Instagram You can set up Live shopping events via Instagram.”
Facebook is not the first company to end its live shopping service. Surprisingly, Facebook’s arch-rival TikTok recently gave up on its plan to expand the live shopping “TikTok Shop” initiative in Europe and the US, due to its poor performance.
Both Facebook and TikTok are leaving no stone unturned to capture the largest share of the short-short social media industry. The skyrocketing consumption of video content has turned the table in the favor of TikTok which has been making Zuckerberg and his team anxious.
