Meta announced it will move away from live shopping on Instagram, removing the ability for users to tag products in live Instagram broadcasts.
This might actually come as a relief for many marketers who felt the pressure to implement Live Shopping, even if, more often than not if we are honest, the product they are marketing was not a good fit for it.
Starting in March, Instagram will no longer let creators tag products in live streams.
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“Beginning on March 16, 2023, you will no longer be able to tag products in live broadcasts on Instagram,” the company wrote on an Instagram support page. “This change will help us focus on products and features that provide the most value to our users.”
The update follows Meta’s decision to step away from live shopping overall. The company is removing the shopping tab from Instagram’s home feed and it had already pulled the plug on live shopping on Facebook last October. Of course, that does not mean Meta is entirely killing the shopping experience on Instagram. “You will 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,” Instagram says.
Tech giants took a strong interest in live shopping features following the huge popularity of live shopping in China. Today Meta might be stepping back (time will show if that was the wise decision to make) but other platforms are still working to develop new live shopping experiences. TikTok is currently testing in-app shopping with plans to test and implement a live shopping feature in the US. YouTube Creators are also able to sell products on the platform thanks to its partnership with Shopify. And of course, Amazon, the leader in online shopping in the US, offers many shoppable live streams on its platform.
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