Strategy question
It's 2016, how would you have decided whether to launch Facebook stories?
- Meta
- Strategy
- Hard
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What this question tests
Tests strategic decision-making under a real historical constraint, weighing a fast-follow move against Snapchat's original format.
How to approach it
- State the context as of 2016: Snapchat Stories had proven a new ephemeral-content format was resonating strongly with younger users that Facebook's main feed wasn't capturing.
- Weigh the case for launching: capturing a growing behavior before Snapchat locks in the format's mindshare, using Facebook's existing massive user base as distribution advantage.
- Weigh the case against: risk of looking like a copycat, and cannibalizing the core News Feed posting behavior that drives ad revenue.
- Recommend launching, since Facebook's distribution scale meant even a fast-follow could quickly outpace Snapchat's growth, a bet later validated by real results.
- Define success as adoption rate of Stories relative to Feed posting, and whether Stories grew overall time spent rather than just shifting it.
What a strong answer includes
- Grounds the decision in the real strategic logic Meta actually used, distribution scale beating originality for a fast-follow.
- Explicitly weighs the cannibalization risk to Feed posting rather than assuming Stories is purely additive.
- Gives a clear recommendation with reasoning instead of listing pros and cons with no conclusion.
Common mistakes
- Refusing to make a clear recommendation and only listing considerations.
- Ignoring Facebook's real distribution advantage as the key factor tipping the decision toward launching.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would you have tested this before a full launch, given it's 2016?
- What would have made you decide not to launch this?
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Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop