Product Sense: Choosing the Next Improvement for Instagram's Disappearing Stories

You are a product manager on Instagram. How would you improve Instagram Stories, the format where people share photos and short videos that disappear after 24 hours? Decide what the improvement should achieve and for whom, then walk through your recommendation and how you would know it worked. ```hint Start from why the format exists Ask what disappearing content makes easy that a permanent feed post does not, then look for the users for whom that promise is not yet working. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is the goal open, or does the team care most about one outcome: more people posting Stories, more viewing of Stories, or revenue from the ads shown between them? - Should the improvement serve people who post Stories, people who only watch them, or creators and businesses who use Stories to reach an audience? - Is changing the core format in scope, for example making Stories last longer or reach people outside the poster's audience, or should the 24-hour model stay intact? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal for Stories tied to the role the format plays in Instagram, with a reason for choosing it over the alternatives - A segment of Stories users chosen for its leverage on that goal, with the reasoning - Pain points specific to that segment's use of Stories, ranked by how often and how badly they hurt - Several distinct solutions prioritized on impact, effort and risk, with one recommendation scoped as a first release - A primary success metric with guardrails, and the main risks of the recommendation ### Follow-up Questions - Suppose your change increases the number of Stories posted, but viewers start tapping past more Stories. How would you decide whether to ship? - One person's posting changes what their followers see. How does that affect the way you design and read the experiment? - How would your recommendation change if leadership asked you to grow Stories ad revenue instead?