Facebook Live Shopping is shutting down in October

Two years after introducing Live Shopping, Facebook will be shutting down the live-streaming feature for eCommerce brands on October 1, 2022.

Troy Nielsen August 3, 2022

Two years after introducing Live Shopping, Facebook will be shutting down the live-streaming feature for eCommerce brands on October 1, 2022.

Why? Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is focusing its resources on short-form video content.

In a post from Facebook announcing the feature’s shutdown, Facebook stated that: “As consumers’ viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram.”

Facebook Live Shopping was a feature that allowed users to live-stream shopping events, such as merchandise launches or seasonal sales.

What do these changes mean for businesses that were using Live Shopping? It might be a good idea to replace shopping streams with short-form video content, Reels and Reels ads.

As per Facebook: “If you want to reach and engage people through video, try experimenting with Reels and Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can also tag products in Reels on Instagram to enable deeper discovery and consideration.”

Facebook Live Shopping may be coming to an end, but the feature is still available on Instagram, so you don’t have to scrap your live-streaming shopping initiatives entirely.

Live streaming is also still available on the platform via Facebook Live, but the eCommerce-related features from Live Shopping will be gone once September ends.

Learn more about Instagram Reels, Instagram Reels ads, and Facebook Reels:

Troy Nielsen is an Inbound Marketing Specialist and associate editor of the Hootsuite blog the industry's largest social media blog with more than 4 million monthly visitors.

Troy completed his B.A. in Mass Communication and Media Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2017. He began his content marketing career as a freelance writer and expanded into copywriting, content strategy, SEO, PPC, and social media advertising.

Before joining Hootsuite in 2022, Troy worked with digital marketing agencies, SaaS startups, higher education institutions, and has covered professional sports ( NHL and NFL ) as well as esports. Find more of his credentials on LinkedIn.

Based in Surrey, BC, when Troy isn’t at his desk he’s usually out in the mountains, either camping where there’s no reception, touring a winery, or enjoying the slopes of one of the many local ski hills.