Should Signup Require a Profile Photo? Metrics and Experiment Design for Meta
Company: Meta
Role: Product Manager
Category: Analytics & Experimentation
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
You are a product manager at Meta. Assume that new users of one of its social apps currently have to add a profile picture before they can finish signing up, and the team is weighing whether to make that step optional. Explain how you would evaluate the change: what you expect it to improve or harm, what you would measure, how you would test it, and how you would decide whether to launch it.
```hint Look past the signup funnel
Removing a required step will almost certainly lift signup completion, so that number alone cannot settle the decision. Ask what a profile photo does for the new user's first weeks and for the people who see their requests and posts, and measure those effects too.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Which app's signup is this (Facebook, Instagram or another), and would the change be global or limited to certain markets or platforms?
- What prompted the idea: a measured drop-off at the photo step, user research, or a growth goal in particular markets?
- If the photo becomes optional at signup, will the product still ask for one later, for example during onboarding or before the first friend request?
- Does the photo serve any purpose beyond display today, such as feeding integrity systems or helping friends recognize the person?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- Why the photo is required today and a hypothesis for what changes when it becomes optional, for the new user and for the people they interact with.
- A primary metric that captures activated new users rather than completed signups, plus guardrails for connection quality, trust and fake accounts.
- An experiment that randomizes at the start of signup, analyzes everyone who began signing up, runs long enough to read retention, and accounts for effects on existing users.
- Segment cuts and a plan for interpreting mixed results.
- A decision rule and rollout plan, including middle options such as asking for the photo later instead of dropping it.
### Follow-up Questions
- Signup completion rises, but new accounts without photos retain worse and fake-account removals go up. How do you decide?
- How would you measure the effect on existing users who receive friend requests or messages from accounts with no photo?
- Would your recommendation change in markets where many people are reluctant to show a picture of themselves publicly?
Overview: A Meta product manager question on whether new users should be required to add a profile picture when they sign up. It tests choosing a primary metric beyond signup completion, designing an experiment that counts everyone who starts signup, setting network and integrity guardrails, and making a launch decision from mixed results.