The post-holiday sales may now be upon us, but Instagram is getting rid of its “Shop” tab, with Meta’s social network announcing changes to its navigation bar.

From February 2023, Instagram will be changing its design. Adam Mosseri, the social network’s boss, announced the news in a video posted on his account.

The navigation bar, visible at the application’s launch, will undergo changes, he explains, first the removal of the “Shop” tab in favor of the return of the “+” or “Compose” button for creating content. The order of the buttons will be as follows: “Home”, "Search," "Compose," "Reels" and "Profile”.

While the "Home," "Search" and "Profile" tabs do not change place, the "Reels" tab, previously in the centre, will give up its place to the "Compose" tab, while the "Shop" tab will disappear completely.

"But you'll still be able to shop on Feed, in Stories, in Reels and in ads. ... The idea here is to simplify Instagram and focus it more on what we're trying to do. We're trying to bring people together over what they love. ... To do that, we're focused on three things: on inspiring people to express themselves, on helping people discover what they love and on sparking connections between people over what they find."

These changes echo criticism from many users, including the Kardashian clan (especially Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner), who have voiced complaints about the new strategy of Instagram, which seems to be taking too much inspiration from TikTok. With the launch of Reels, short-form videos have taken off on the platform. In fact, the "Reels" tab was previously positioned in the center of the navigation bar, highlighting its importance. But this status is set to change, since the "Compose" button for general content creation will take its place.

The demise of the "Shop" tab is perhaps not surprising after the closure of Facebook Live Shopping in October 2022. Shopping on social networks appeared to have taken off over the last two years, with more and more features and events to promote purchases, especially on Twitter or TikTok.

 - AFP Relaxnews