Why did Instagram remove the shop tab and replace it with Reels?

Why did Instagram remove the shop tab and replace it with Reels?

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, with over 1.4 billion monthly active users. The app is constantly evolving and introducing new features to keep its users engaged and entertained. One of the latest changes that Instagram announced is a redesign of its home screen navigation bar, which will take effect next month.

The new navigation bar will have four tabs: Home, Explore, Reels, and Profile. The Home tab will show you your main feed of posts from accounts you follow. The Explore tab will help you discover new content based on your interests and preferences. The Reels tab will showcase short-form videos from creators around the world. And the Profile tab will let you access your own account settings, stories, posts, reels, guides, and more.

Image of instagram reels
With Reels on Instagram, you can create short, impressive, and addictive videos of 15-30 seconds in length.

But what happened to the Shop tab and the Create post button that used to be on the navigation bar? Well, Instagram decided to remove them and move them elsewhere on the app. According to Instagram’s blog post, “With more people creating and watching short entertaining videos on Instagram than ever before we want to make it easier for people to access this content.” That’s why they moved the Reels tab to the center spot on the navigation bar, replacing the Shop tab.

The Shop tab was introduced in November 2020 as a way to make it easier for users to discover and buy products from their favorite brands and creators on Instagram. However, it seems that Instagram realized that shopping was not a priority for most of its users when they opened the app. Instead, they wanted to see more engaging content like reels.

That doesn’t mean that shopping is gone from Instagram altogether. You can still access it by tapping on a shopping bag icon at the top right corner of your home screen or by swiping left on your main feed. You can also find shoppable posts with product tags throughout your feed and explore page.

As for creating a new post, you can do that by tapping on a plus sign icon at the bottom left corner of your home screen or by swiping right on your main feed. You can also create stories by tapping on your profile picture at the top left corner of your home screen or by swiping right from anywhere on the app.

The redesign of Instagram’s home screen navigation bar is part of its ongoing effort to adapt to changing user behavior and preferences. By giving more prominence to reels, Instagram hopes to compete with other short-form video platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts. By moving shopping and creating posts to secondary locations, Instagram hopes to streamline its user experience and focus on its core features.

What do you think of these changes? Do you like them or not? Let us know in the comments below!

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