Instagram · Product sense · Mid · 45 to 60 minutes

How should Instagram boost casual sharing?

Instagram is a mobile social app where people share photos and videos with friends, creators, and public audiences. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

user insight
product strategy
prioritization
metrics
experimentation

The situation

It is 2016. Instagram has become a large photo sharing app centered on a polished main feed. Growth in opening the app is healthy, but creation is lagging. Assume users open Instagram 6 times per day on average, but only 8 percent of weekly active users post to the feed in a given week, and research says many people hesitate because they do not want to clutter their profile or post something that feels low quality. At the same time, rival social apps are gaining attention with more casual, frequent sharing behaviors. Instagram leadership asks you, a PM on consumer sharing, to recommend how Instagram should increase lightweight posting without hurting the feed experience that users already love. The challenge is not just adding another format. You need to decide what problem to solve first, who it is for, and how to make a new behavior visible enough to matter while avoiding spam, confusion, or damage to the brand.

What to produce

Write a 1 to 2 page product strategy memo.

Your answer must

Define the core user problem behind low posting and explain why current feed behavior does not solve it.
Choose a primary target user or segment and explain why that segment matters most now.
Recommend one product direction, describe the user experience at a high level, and explain how it changes user behavior.
Compare your recommendation with at least two credible alternatives and discuss the main trade-offs.
Specify success metrics, guardrails, and a simple launch or experiment plan for the first phase.

Constraints

Preserve the main feed as a place for higher quality public posts.
Work within Instagram's existing mobile app and social graph, not a separate new app.
Do not rely on large content deals, celebrities, or external partnerships to make the idea work.
Your first version should be realistic to test within one to two quarters.

Format

Use short headings and bullets. Start with problem, then user, recommendation, trade-offs, and metrics.

How Instagram actually played it

Explains why the same disappearing post idea grew far faster on Instagram than on Snapchat. The argument rests on lower posting pressure, top of screen placement and a 24 hour clock, followed by interactive add ons.

Remove the emotional barrier, not just add a feature
A feature people can see gets used more
Time limits can create daily habits

Built from What Made Stories Go Viral on Instagram (and Not on Snapchat)? by Sid Arora.