Critique an App You Love, Then Plan Its Place Inside Facebook

Tell the interviewer about an app you love and what makes it great. Then explain how you would build it into Facebook or integrate it with the Facebook platform. ### Clarifying Questions - Should the app be one Facebook does not already have a version of, or is any app fine? - Is the choice between building a native version and integrating the existing app mine to make? - What should bringing it to Facebook achieve: more engagement for Facebook users, new revenue, or a better experience for the app's own users? - Does the Facebook platform mean the Facebook app alone, or also Messenger and other surfaces? ### Part 1 — The app and why you love it Name the app, who it serves and the need it meets, and explain why it works so well. ```hint Explain the why Choose an app whose best moments you can describe from your own use, and trace each one back to the design choice behind it. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - The user, the need and the job the app does for them - Two or three design choices, each tied to why it works - Why it beats the alternatives, and an honest weakness ### Part 2 — Bringing it to Facebook Explain how you would build or integrate it within Facebook: what you would offer, to which Facebook users, and how you would know it worked. ```hint Compare what each side brings List what Facebook has that the app lacks and what the app does that Facebook cannot easily copy, then weigh building against integrating. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - Fit between the app's core value and Facebook's users, assets and goals - A build or integrate decision with its trade-offs - A first version, its target users, and success metrics with guardrails ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A clear link between what makes the app great in Part 1 and what the Facebook version keeps - Risks specific to bringing this app into Facebook, such as privacy, the app maker's incentives and user trust - Judgment about when building it inside Facebook would be the wrong call ### Follow-up Questions - The app's makers see Facebook as a rival and refuse to partner. What do you do? - Which part of what makes the app great would be hardest to keep inside Facebook, and why? - How would you tell whether the Facebook version serves the app's users and not just Facebook's engagement numbers?