Instagram and Facebook content will soon include shopping links in posts, essentially replacing third-party “link in bio” style tools. Meta announced Tuesday that it is adding commerce features to the two platforms, although the functionality will be slightly different for each.
On Facebook, content creators will be able to link their affiliate accounts with brands and tag products in Reels and photos. Typically when an influencer wants to send viewers to their affiliate link, they have to comment on a post with a link to the product, or direct the audience to an affiliate platform like ShopMy or LTK. Now, approved products will be directly linked to the content in the form of floating bubbles that viewers can click on directly. Affiliate partners are limited at launch: In the US, the program will start with Amazon, with Teemu and eBay being added in the coming months.
On Instagram, influencers will be able to load up to 30 shoppable products in a single Reel. Like Facebook, products aren’t limited: Creators will be able to directly copy and paste their own affiliate links to individual items. The only problem is that the linked item must be registered with Meta in the brand’s commerce catalog.
The new features will be convenient for anyone looking to profit from affiliate revenue. For everyone else, it will likely make the platform feel even more like a shopping mall. The built-in affiliate content is similar to the way the TikTok shop works, with easily accessible links to tank tops and camera mounts floating around in one video after another.
The new shopping features come just weeks after a fiasco in which Instagram caught influencers adding shopping links to their content without their permission. One influencer who discovered the feature said the “Shop the Look” feature added links to cheap-looking products, not actual items. Meta said at the time that this was a limited test and that the company was “exploring various changes” to the feature.
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