Instagram will no longer let creators tag products in live streams from March, the company reports announced Tuesday. “As of March 16, 2023, you will no longer be able to tag products in live broadcasts on Instagram,” the company says. wrote on an Instagram support page. “This change helps us focus on products and features that provide the most value to our users.”
The change marks Meta’s next big move away from live shopping. The company kicked the Shopping tab from Instagram’s home feed in February and stopped live shopping on Facebook in October. Stores on Instagram aren’t going away completely, though. “You can still set up and run your store on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences for people and businesses through feeds, stories, reels, ads and more,” says Instagram. And other live streaming features remain unaffected.
Many tech companies have invested heavily in QVC-like live shopping features following the boom in popularity of live shopping in China. But while Meta is taking a step back, other social platforms are still working on shopping tools. For example, TikTok started testing its in-app shopping feature in the US in November and is reportedly working on live shopping in the US as well. YouTube allows creators to sell products directly on the platform thanks to a partnership with Shopify. And Amazon’s live shopping platform has a ton of streams you can watch now.
