Strategy question

Should Facebook require users to upload profile photos during onboarding? How would you go about deciding this?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Tests strategic decision-making that weighs identity/trust benefits against onboarding friction, plus how to validate the decision with data.

State the tradeoff: a profile photo increases perceived authenticity and trust for the whole network, but adds friction that can lower onboarding completion.
Consider making it encouraged but not required, since a hard requirement risks losing legitimate users who are camera-shy or privacy-conscious at signup.
Propose a middle path: prompt for a photo with a clear trust benefit explained, and allow skip with a later reminder rather than a blocking gate.
Design the test: compare signup completion rate and week-1 retention between a required-photo group and a prompted-but-optional group.
Decide based on the net effect: if optional prompting captures most of the trust benefit without the drop-off cost, it beats a hard requirement.

Avoids the binary trap and proposes a middle-ground design (prompted, not blocking) that captures most of the benefit with less risk.
Names the actual tradeoff clearly, trust/authenticity gain versus onboarding drop-off, instead of assuming photos are purely good.
Uses an illustrative number, e.g. assume a hard requirement could cost 5 points of signup completion for a 10% authenticity lift, and argues the net isn't obviously worth it.
Proposes a concrete A/B test design to settle the decision with data rather than opinion.

Assuming requiring a photo is obviously good for trust without weighing the onboarding friction cost.
Not proposing any way to actually test or validate the decision before committing.

Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.