Measuring Instagram's Swipe-to-Camera Shortcut for Posting Photos
Company: Meta
Role: Product Manager
Category: Analytics & Experimentation
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
On Instagram, a person on the home feed can swipe left to reach a separate screen; from there they can message friends or open the camera, take a photo and post it. The interviewer wants you to focus on the swipe itself as a way into the camera for posting a new picture. What metrics would you consider for this gesture? Then pick the one or two you would use as the main measures of success, and explain why you chose them.
```hint Separate intent from motion
Not every swipe is an attempt to post: some are accidental and some lead to messaging. Think about how you would tell a swipe that served the user from one that did not, and how this path compares with the other ways to start a post.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is this an existing gesture being evaluated, or one that is about to launch?
- What counts as success after the swipe: only a photo posted to the feed, or also a photo sent to friends or shared another way?
- Should the analysis cover all accounts, or only personal accounts, since businesses often publish from scheduling tools rather than the phone camera?
- If a post that would otherwise have started from the create button now starts with the swipe, should that count as a gain?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- The purpose of the gesture, faster capture and sharing, and how it ties to Instagram's goals
- The path from swipe to published photo, with a metric for each step and a way to spot accidental swipes
- One or two chosen metrics with precise definitions and reasons tied to that purpose
- Guardrails for side effects: interrupted feed browsing, the messaging side of the same screen, and posts merely shifting from other entry points
- How the chosen metrics would be validated, such as a holdout group without the gesture
### Follow-up Questions
- How would you tell an intentional swipe from an accidental one in the logs?
- A change makes more swipes end in a post, but photos posted per user stay flat. What happened, and is the gesture a success?
- How would you design an experiment showing that the gesture adds posts rather than moving them from other entry points?
Overview: A product metrics question about the Instagram swipe that leads from the home feed to a screen for the camera and messages. It tests mapping the path from swipe to published photo, choosing one or two main success metrics with clear reasons, and accounting for accidental swipes and posts shifting from other entry points.