Investigate a Sudden Two-Week Decline in Instagram Feed Post Creation

Instagram's engagement has fallen by 15%. Walk through how you would diagnose the decline: how you would confirm the drop is real, how you would narrow down where it comes from, which causes you would consider, and what evidence would confirm or rule out each one. ```hint Split the total A count of posts can fall because fewer people use the app, because fewer of them decide to post, or because each poster shares less often. Work out which of these moved before looking for reasons. ``` ### Constraints and Clarifications The interviewer gives these details when asked: - Engagement here means the number of posts created. Stories and reels are not counted as posts. - The decline was sharp and played out over about two weeks, not a slow slide. - No particular location was given for the drop. ### Clarifying Questions - Did every kind of feed post fall by a similar amount (single photos, carousels, videos), and did the number of reels or stories created change over the same two weeks? - Did daily active users fall as well, or did roughly the same people open the app but post less? - Does the metric count posts at the moment they are published, and are posts that authors later delete, or that are removed for breaking the rules, subtracted from it? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Checking that the posts-created count is trustworthy (event logging, how a post is classified, removals) before turning to product explanations. - Breaking the metric into its components and cutting it by platform, app version, country, account type and post format. - Hypotheses that fit a sharp two-week drop, ranked, each paired with the data that would confirm or reject it, including content moving to formats the metric excludes. - A split between internal causes (releases, product or ranking changes, enforcement) and external ones (competitors, operating-system changes, events, seasonality). - A clear conclusion: what to do once the cause is found, and whether the drop is actually bad for Instagram. ### Follow-up Questions - Reels created rose over the same two weeks by roughly as many as feed posts fell. Is the drop still a problem, and what would you tell leadership? - People open the post composer as often as before, but fewer posts finish publishing. Where do you look next? - How would you monitor post creation so that a drop like this is noticed within days rather than weeks?