You heard it right. From October 1 of this year onwards, users will no longer be able to schedule or host any live shopping events over the Facebook Live platform. This announcement was made very recently and could spell trouble for those who use the service as a primary means of e-commerce. Here’s what is changing so that you can adapt once implementation is underway.

The feature that is making a departure is the inclusion of product playlists and tags in Live videos. That means sellers will still be able to put up their items on a Facebook livestream, but accessibility to these items will no longer be one-click like they once were. Sellers will now have to think of creative ways to bypass the Facebook Live Shopping feature with quick access features of their own. Meta has generously provided 3 months for users to brainstorm solutions to this.

Meta claims that the reasoning behind this decision is the redirection of company assets towards the emerging short form video format. With the giant fully intent on taking on the now-influential TikTok, it is encouraging users to sell on its own Reels instead. One can include advertisements for products on Reels in order to make everything much easier and accommodate the shorter attention span of people nowadays.

Instead of waiting for a shop to showcase your item over livestream, you can just scroll through their 10-15 second videos to quickly see if the item is for you. Otherwise, it’s on to the next item. That is the equivalent of window shopping but with audiovisual assistance over the internet.

Will you miss the Facebook Live Shopping feature or is Facebook Reels the way to go? Let us know in the comments below!