Instagram to Change Home Feed With Removal of Shop Tab in February 2023

In an effort to “simplify” their in-app navigation, Instagram will be changing their home feed, starting with the removal of the Shop tab.

Instagram Home Feed Changes

📣 Navigation Update 📣

The navigation is changing in February to make it easier for people to create, be entertained and connect with friends over the things they love.https://t.co/9tR4kIH9d0 pic.twitter.com/DwinENhku7

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) January 10, 2023

Instagram and its CEO, Adam Mosseri, have recently announced plans to simplify the platform’s in-app navigation in an effort to prioritize connecting users with the content they enjoy. One of the main changes to be implemented next month will be the removal of the Shop tab from the navigation bar on the home screen.

Additionally, Instagram will be repositioning the Create / Compose button back to the center of the navigation bar, which currently occupied by the Reels feature. The Reels feature will be shifted to the right of the repositioned Create / Compose button.

While the Shop tab will no longer be accessible from the home screen, the ability to purchase products directly through Instagram will still be available. According to Mosseri’s statement, users will still be able to shop through the platform’s feed, Reels, stories and advertisements, and only by interacting with those features provided by creators and advertisers.

Based on recent announcements, it seems that Instagram may be returning to its original focus of being a social network where users can share photos and videos with one another. This move appears to be in response to complaints from the community that Instagram has been trying to emulate services offered by its main rival, TikTok. This includes placing a strong emphasis on short-form video creation, offering an in-app marketplace feature, and promoting recommended content in users’ feeds.

However, as it stands, only two of the three previously mentioned features are being addressed in the upcoming update. The platform will continue to push recommended content on user’s feed instead of going back to the more preferred chronological layout. This approach aligns with Instagram’s and Facebook’s goal of allowing users to discover content from creators (and particularly advertisers) that they may not be following yet.

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Pokdepinion: Took them long enough to figure out the current layout doesn’t work well. They must have really wanted the money and encourage more people to shop, but that didn’t work out as they had hoped it to.