Social Media Giant To Shut Down Its Live Shopping Feature

Facebook is shutting down Live Shopping, its QVC-like live streaming feature that allows creators to stream and sell products to an audience.

The feature will officially shut down on October 1, and Facebook says it's part of the company's initiative to shift focus to Reels.

"As consumers' viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta's short-form video product," explains Facebook. While Live Shopping will be gone on Facebook, it will still be available on Instagram.

First launched in 2018 in Thailand, live shopping opens up another revenue stream for creators on Facebook. On the other hand, live shopping is still trendy in China, it doesn't seem to have taken off in other parts of the world. Facebook rolled out the feature on a broader scale in 2020 . Even TikTok announced it would pull live shopping in the US and Europe last month.

Live shopping shutdown also demonstrates Facebook's growing dedication to its short-form video feature, Reels, which it officially brought to the platform last year.

Facebook has even considered making its algorithm more like TikTok, something its parent company Meta has already done with Instagram.