Facebook Is Shutting Down Its Live Shopping Feature To Focus On Reels

Facebook is shutting down its live shopping feature on October 1 to focus on Reels, the company announced in a blog post.

The company said from October 1, 2022, you will no longer be able to host any new or scheduled Live Shopping events on Facebook.

You will still be able to use Facebook Live to broadcast live events, but you won’t be able to create product playlists or tag products in your Facebook Live videos.

Shifting focus to Reels

“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,” Facebook said in a blog post.

“If you want to reach and engage people through video, try experimenting with Reels and Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram.”

Facebook added you could also tag products in Reels on Instagram to enable deeper discovery and consideration.

If you have a shop with checkout and want to to host Live Shopping events on Instagram, you can set up Live Shopping on Instagram, said the company.

“If you want to preserve a previously live video, you can download your video on your Page or in Creator Studio.”

Facebook Dating

Also read: Facebook Dating Was Set To Take Over The Market – Instead It Was Dead In The Water

Facebook Inc, now called Meta, announced its dating application, Facebook Dating, in May 2018. There was real excitement, with people expecting a revolutionary dating app that would soon beat Tinder.

And it is no wonder, when you consider the size of the company, its technical capabilities, and most importantly the large volume of data that Facebook has collected about its users. After all, research shows that Facebook knows us better than our mums, so why wouldn’t it live up to its goal of creating “meaningful relationships”?

But four years later, it hasn’t taken over the market – most people have simply forgotten about it. Numerous reports claim the dating app practically doesn’t function. Facebook’s own data suggest not many people use the service – about 300,000 in New York, compare with the claimed 3 million Bumble users in New York.

As an online dating technology researcher, I had an eye on Facebook Dating since its announcement. But as I never heard anything about its market success, it took me a while to look into it. Now, I think I have a good idea why the app failed.