Instagram, Meta’s photo-sharing app, is bringing a new feature next month. Starting March 16th, the popular Live Shop tab will be retired. Announced in 2020, creators can directly tag products and promote links in their live broadcasts. While the ability to tag links will no longer be available, other live broadcast features such as scheduling a broadcast, inviting guests to join, and conducting a live Q&A session will still be present. Instagram had previously announced that it would be resetting the Shop tab feature in February.
As announced by Meta on your help pagethe ability to tag products and links during the live broadcast will be removed from the Instagram from March 16th. The change is being rolled out “to focus on products and features that deliver the most value to users,” Meta said.
While users may not be able to click the Shop tab during their lifetime, the company will continue to invest in the shopping experience within the Instagram app for individuals and businesses. To promote their creations and business, users can continue to post to other Instagram features such as Feeds, Stories, Reels, and Ads. That means users can still set up and run their businesses on Instagram. The app also continues to offer the same live broadcasting features as before. Some of these include scheduling a live session, inviting users to join live, and conducting a live question and answer session.
The Live Shopping feature was added to Instagram in 2020 and is only available in select countries including Canada, United States, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Australia, and Bangladesh Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. The feature was launched to help small businesses increase their reach and connect with users through Instagram.
Previously announced Instagram REMOVED Instagram’s Shop Tab feature in February 2023. The photo-sharing app announced it would make changes to its navigation bar in January 2023. Changes included resetting the Shop tab from the homepage and replacing the create a new post button like the Reels button.
