Meta just launched a standalone app designed to make it easier to sell stuff on Facebook Marketplace, one of the social network’s features that remains popular among young people. The new Seller app allows frequent Marketplace sellers to manage their listings, inventory, and conversations with potential buyers in one convenient spot. It also provides performance data on things like views, clicks, and sold listings. And of course, AI is involved. Users can use the app to upload photos of the items they are trying to sell, and Meta AI can automatically generate a listing with a suggested title, description, category, and price. The app also includes a bulk listing feature that allows sellers to post multiple items at once. Seller is now available on the Apple App Store. Meta is also testing an Android version and is offering a web experience to people who download the app.
The new app appears to be part of Meta’s strategy to increase engagement among its most active users as it tries to expand beyond its traditional social media feeds. “I think about these as things that complement the main app, and cater to the more high-intensity user communities,” Tom Alison, the head of Facebook, told The New York Times. “That’s the idea that underpins a lot of what we’re doing this year or trying this year. It’s very early — it’s experimental.”
