Facebook is working on visual search shopping on Instagram

Facebook is developing visual search technology for Instagram because it doubles shopping features on the entire platform. Mark Zuckerberg spoke in Facebook's live audio room and said that the company is in the early stages of building a camera-based search tool.

The feature would be similar to ones offered by Snapchat and Pinterest, which have both invested heavily into visual search. Zuckerberg outlined two potential use cases for the technology on Instagram. When browsing Instagram, visual search could surface similar products available elsewhere in the app, or it could allow users to find products using their cameras or images from their camera roll.

“When you find something you'll be able to tap on it and find similar products that people across all of our shops are selling the moment that you see something that you like,” Zuckerberg said. “We think that visual search is going to be really helpful in making photos shoppable Instagram overall.”

In addition to visual search for Instagram, Zuckerberg also announced that Facebook Shops will soon be arriving on Marketplace and WhatsApp. Facebook has already been integrating product catalogs into WhatsApp chats, but now businesses will be able to create storefronts for the chat app .