Strategy question
You are the product manager of Instagram Story. Before we launch, how would you set metrics for progress?
- Meta
- Strategy
- Medium
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What this question tests
Goal setting before launch: defining leading indicators of success for a brand new, ephemeral content format.
How to approach it
- Clarify the product goal for Stories: increase casual, lightweight sharing that regular feed posts discourage.
- Define a north star, such as percentage of daily active users who post at least one Story per day.
- Break it into a funnel: Story creation rate, views per Story, and reply or reaction rate.
- Add a guardrail, like feed posting rate, to check Stories are additive and not cannibalizing existing engagement.
- Set a directional target for the first quarter post launch, acknowledging it should be conservative given the format is unproven.
What a strong answer includes
- Chooses creation rate over pure view count as the north star, since Stories succeed by lowering the bar to share, not just consume.
- Adds a cannibalization guardrail against feed posts, showing awareness that a new format can eat an existing one.
- Sets an illustrative early target, like 10% of DAU posting weekly within the first quarter, and frames it as directional.
Common mistakes
- Focusing only on views, which rewards passive consumption rather than the format's real goal of increasing sharing.
- Ignoring cannibalization risk against the existing feed.
Likely follow-up questions
- What would you do if creation rate is high but views are low?
- How would you decide when Stories is ready for wider rollout?
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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