Facebook Launches Seller App, Tests TikTok-Style Video Feed

Meta Platforms launched a standalone Seller app for Facebook Marketplace on October 26, 2023, targeting power users and businesses. This new application aims to streamline the selling process by providing dedicated tools for managing listings, communicating with buyers, and tracking sales.

The company is also experimenting with a significant redesign of the Facebook app's home screen, introducing a video-first feed that closely resembles the user experience of TikTok. This test, which began in early October 2023, focuses on surfacing content through short-form videos, a format that has proven highly successful for competitors. The goal is to increase user engagement and time spent within the application by prioritizing dynamic, scrollable video content.

This dual initiative reflects Meta's ongoing strategy to adapt its core products to evolving user preferences and competitive pressures in the social media landscape. The Seller app seeks to capture a segment of users who actively use Marketplace for commerce, offering them a more robust and specialized toolset. Simultaneously, the video feed test signals a potential shift in Facebook's content consumption model, moving away from a traditional feed of static posts towards a more immersive, video-centric experience. The company has not yet announced a wider rollout date for the video feed feature.