Reverse-engineer why Instagram moved profile grid tiles from square to portrait

You are a product manager on Instagram. The app changed the thumbnails on profile grids from squares (1:1) to taller portrait tiles (4:5). Why do you think the team made this change? Explain the goals it most likely serves, which users it helps and which it hurts, the trade-offs the team accepted, and how you would check whether the change was worth it. ```hint Look at both sides of the profile A profile grid serves the person who arranges it and the visitor deciding whether to follow. Ask what each of them gains and loses when every tile gets taller, and connect that to the shapes of the posts people publish today. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Should I reason from public behavior as an outsider, or as a PM on the team who can see internal usage data? - Did the change only alter how existing posts are previewed on the grid, or did it also change the formats people can upload? - Should the answer weigh all profile owners equally, or focus on a group such as creators and businesses versus people who post casually for friends? - Beyond explaining the decision, do you want a recommendation on whether to keep it, adjust it or roll it back? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Ranked hypotheses for the change, tied to how the mix of content posted on Instagram has shifted - Separate effects on profile owners (creators, businesses, casual posters, people who plan their grid's look) and on profile visitors, including who loses - The costs the team accepted, such as fewer posts visible per screen and older square posts that no longer fit their tiles - Metrics that would confirm or refute each hypothesis, with guardrails and a sensible rollout or test design - A recommendation for softening the downside for the users who lose ### Follow-up Questions - In the first week, photographers and people who planned their grids complain loudly that their profiles look broken. What do you do? - Visitors now see fewer posts before they scroll. How would you test whether that hurts their decision to follow? - Would you have launched this to everyone at once or in stages, and how would you measure it given that one person's grid is seen by many viewers?