Facebook has been busy rolling out new features to monetise its social media platforms. Today it has announced three new features. First, Shops are being introduced to WhatsApp, second, Instagram gets AI-powered visual search and AR dynamic Ads, and finally, a personalised shopping experience for its customers on Marketplace using Shops Ads.

Mark Zuckerburg, CEO of Facebook, introduced these updates on the newly launched Live Audio Rooms. 

“More than 1 billion people use Marketplace each month, so we’re making it easy for businesses to bring their Shops into Marketplace to reach even more people,” added Mr. Zuckerburg in a subsequent Facebook post.

As of today, Facebook has enabled shops in the US to showcase their products on Marketplace with businesses in selected countries getting access to display their products in WhatsApp (on their business accounts). No information has been given on whether New Zealand has been chosen as one of the early recipients of this feature.

Facebook introduces Shops Ads which analyze the individual’s shopping behavior and tailors a custom shopping experience for the person. This will help businesses direct their customers to products that they are more likely to purchase.

Instagram shopping gets a boost with AI-powered visual search, which lets the customer look for similar products to the ones they like. The users can upload a picture of the product and let the feature find them similar products. This feature is still in its early developmental stage and is expected to launch in late 2021.