What's your favourite product & why?

Make it harder: Your fav Meta product & how will you improve it? Asked in Meta product management interview

My favourite product is Instagram. It’s the one app I open multiple times a day.

After the popular last week's product design question (it had 15,000+ views), this week we will be discussing your favourite product question.

If you are liking this series; can you please like, comment & restack this post on Substack? It will give visibility to the post!

I encourage you to take a shot at solving it first—that’s the only way to develop your problem-solving muscle. 💡

Once you’re done, come back and check out the solution. Let’s go! 🔥

Do add your solution in the comments—I’ll be reading all of them!

1️⃣ What is Instagram? 📸

Before explaining why it’s my favourite, let me quickly explain what Instagram is so we’re on the same page.

Interviewer: Yes, please!

Instagram is a visual-first social media platform focused on:
✅ Content creation – Photos, videos, reels, and stories.
✅ Community building – Social interactions through likes, comments, and DMs.
✅ Entertainment & discovery – AI-driven recommendations on explore & reels.
✅ Monetization & shopping – Creator earnings, brand partnerships, in-app shopping

It sits within Meta’s ecosystem, integrating with:
🔹 Facebook – Cross-platform sharing
🔹 WhatsApp – Status updates & messaging
🔹 Messenger – Private communication

2️⃣ User personas 👥

🔹 Casual users: Use Instagram for entertainment, personal sharing & staying in touch with friends
🔹 Amateur creators: Create content for engagement but don’t fully monetize
🔹 Professional creators: Full-time influencers monetizing their audience
🔹 Brands & businesses: Use Instagram for marketing and sales
🔹 Shoppers: Browse and buy products via Instagram Shopping

I am a casual user who uses Instagram for entertainment, personal sharing, staying connected with friends and create content for engagement but don’t monetize.

3️⃣ Why I like Instagram?

• Stay connected with friends 👥 – Share and consume everyday moments, travel updates, and special events like weddings via Stories and posts

• Engage through DMs & shares 💬 – Easily chat with friends and share relatable reels and posts for seamless interaction

• Powerful creator tools 🎨 – Express creativity effortlessly with user-friendly tools for posts, stories, and reels

• Stay updated on trends 🔥 – Follow brands and influencers for the latest in news, fashion, sports, and pop culture

• Seamless shopping 🛍️ – Discover and buy products instantly with Instagram Shopping’s express checkout

• Clean UI/UX & ease of use

4️⃣ Why I like Instagram over Snapchat/Tiktok/Youtube shorts?

🎵 TikTok – While TikTok has the best content recommendation algorithm & virality coefficient and discoverability for new creators, it is currently banned in India

🎥 YouTube Shorts – Mostly consumption focused for casual users unlike Instagram. Used heavily by professional creators and brands as it offers good monetisation avenues. Casual users and amateur creators engage less in content creation

👻 Snapchat – Popular among Gen Z due to disappearing snaps & filters, but since I’m in my late 20s (28), I don’t have a strong network there

📸 Instagram – My entire network is here, making it easy to stay connected with friends, discover pop culture, and follow sports, health, and trending news. It also offers a powerful yet easy-to-use creator tool

5️⃣ My pain-points with Instagram

🤖 Average content recommendation – My feed doesn’t strongly align with my interests. The algorithm priorities content shared by friends in DMs, trending topics, and my followers’ engagement patterns over my preferences.

📉 Poor feed experience – I see more content from brands, influencers, and ads than posts from my actual friends.

🛍️ Limited shopping experience – Shopping discovery relies mostly via ads. There’s no embedded experience with product reviews, comparison across categories, or similar product suggestions.

📉 Low reach for amateur creators – Instagram’s algorithm favors bigger creators, making it harder for new or amateur creators to grow compared to TikTok or YouTube Shorts.

💰 Limited monetisation options – No direct creator payouts or ad revenue sharing. Amateur creators can only monetise through brand deals and partnerships, which is tough.

6️⃣ Areas of improvement

There are two areas I can focus on improving:

1. The overall experience of using Instagram, including content relatability, relevance, and the shopping experience.

2. Monetisation opportunities and increased engagement for amateur creators.

I would like to focus on enhancing my overall experience of using Instagram as a content consumer.

Interviewer: Before moving ahead, can you define what is the one key metrics which you will use to track user experience.

Me: I will use CSAT for measuring experience.

Interviewer: Umm, okay!

7️⃣ Solution 🚀

More user control on content/feed 🎯

• Option for users to explicitly select/mute preferences based on content categories (e.g., cricket, geopolitics). (Must-have)

• Option for users to see content only from their following list. (Must-have)

Complete embedded shopping experience 🛍️

• Primary real estate for shopping with a dedicated CTA at the bottom of the app. (Must-have)

• Enhanced product/service discovery through search and browsing product catalogs and brands. (Must-have)

• User reviews for each product to improve purchase confidence. (Should-have)

• Product comparison across different categories. (Should-have)

• One-click checkout for seamless transactions. (Must-have)

• Public visibility of product recommendations from followers. (Should-have)

8️⃣ Risk & trade-offs

1. A customised algorithm may impact Instagram’s moat, which revolves around its recommendation algorithm maximising usage time.

   1. This recommendation algorithm serves as the fuel for its biggest revenue stream—ads.

2. Instagram isn’t a full-fledged shopping marketplace like Amazon. Instead, it functions as an ad platform for brands and creators, primarily driving lead generation.

   1. Building a full-fledged shopping marketplace would require significant investment. Instagram has positioned itself as a visual-first social media platform designed to keep users connected with friends and family.

   2. An alternative approach could be launching a standalone shopping app, similar to how Threads was introduced, rather than embedding a full-scale shopping experience within Instagram itself.

9️⃣ Success metrics

1. Content relevance - CSAT, average time spent on the app, increase in ads revenue

2. Shopping experience - % of users who places an order via Instagram shopping, average order value, repeat users

🔟 Interviewer feedback

The interviewer rated this solution 6/10, considering it a "maybe hire" given the bar for a Meta interview.

Strengths ✅

• Well-structured approach – Your answer was logically structured with clear sections (problem definition, solution, risks, metrics). This made it easy to follow.

• User-centric thinking – You correctly categorized Instagram’s user personas and clearly articulated your experience.

• Clear pain points & prioritization – Identifying key issues like content relevance, shopping experience, and monetization showed strong problem identification skills.

• Comparison with competitors – You analyzed why you prefer Instagram over TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube Shorts, showing market awareness.

---

Areas to improve & deep dive 📌

1️⃣ Solution should have definitely been more detailed out. Depth was missing

More user control on content/feed 🎯

🔹 Content preferences & customisation

• Option for users to explicitly select/mute preferences based on content categories (e.g., cricket, geopolitics, fitness, finance). (✅ Must-have)

• Weighted content preferences – Users can prioritize categories based on interest levels (e.g., "High Priority: Tech & AI, Low Priority: Celebrity Gossip"). (✅ Should-have)

🔹 Feed experience enhancement

• Option for users to see content only from their following list via a toggle. (✅ Must-have)

• Separate feeds – Allow users to switch between:

  • Friends-Only Feed: Posts from accounts they follow.

  • For You Feed: AI-driven personalized content.

  • Trending Feed: Top content based on engagement globally. (✅ Should-have)

🔹 Better algorithm transparency & feedback

• “Why am I seeing this?” – Show users a breakdown of why content appears (e.g., past interactions, similar interests). (✅ Should-have)

• Downvote button – Let users flag irrelevant recommendations to improve personalization. (✅ Must-have)

• More granular snooze options – Temporarily hide content from specific topics (e.g., "Mute political content for 1 month"). (✅ Should-have)

---

Complete embedded shopping experience 🛍️

🔹 Seamless shopping integration

• Primary real estate for shopping with a dedicated CTA at the bottom of the app. (✅ Must-have)

• Curated Shopping Feed – Personalised product recommendations based on user interests, past purchases, and saved items. (✅ Must-have)

• AR/VR Shopping Preview – Try-on experiences for fashion, accessories, and home decor. (✅ Should-have)

🔹 Enhanced product & service discovery

• Advanced search filters for better product browsing (e.g., price range, brand, ratings, trending). (✅ Must-have)

• User reviews & ratings for each product to improve purchase confidence. (✅ Should-have)

• AI-powered product tagging – Auto-tagging of products in creator content for easy shopping. (✅ Must-have)

🔹 Comparison & checkout experience

• Product comparison feature across different brands and categories. (✅ Should-have)

• One-click checkout for seamless transactions. (✅ Must-have)

• Public visibility of product recommendations from followers to enhance social commerce. (✅ Should-have)

🔹 Improved buyer confidence & seller support

• Buyer protection policies – Clear return/refund policies built into Instagram Shopping. (✅ Must-have)

• Live Shopping & Drops – Let creators host live shopping events with exclusive discounts. (✅ Should-have)

• Better seller tools – Insights into product performance, customer engagement, and ad ROI. (✅ Must-have)

2️⃣ Link risk with Instagram revenue model upfront

Your risk section is high-level but lacks specificity. Acknowledging Instagram’s revenue model constraints upfront makes your answer stronger.

✅ Algorithm risks:

• A fully user-controlled feed could reduce engagement by cutting out serendipitous discovery.

• TikTok thrives because users engage with viral content outside their immediate network.

• Mitigation: Keep algorithmic discovery but allow “interest-based” filters.

✅ Shopping risks:

• Instagram is not a marketplace – Its revenue comes from ads, not sales commissions.

• Turning Instagram into an Amazon-style experience could dilute the social experience.

• Alternative: A standalone “Instagram Shopping” app like Threads.

3️⃣ More granular success metrics 📊

Your success metrics are too broad. It should be granular and tied to the features you have built as a part of the solution.

✅ Content relevance & experience:

• % of users toggling the “Following-Only” feed → Signals demand for personalization.

• Reels CSAT (NPS-style feedback) → Measures content satisfaction.

• % of users customizing interests in Reels → Adoption of personalization features.

✅ Shopping performance:

• CTR on Instagram Shopping CTA → Checks engagement with shopping real estate.

• % of users purchasing without leaving Instagram → Direct impact on revenue.

• A/B test: Shopping revenue via ads vs. shopping section → Checks if a dedicated section improves transactions.

---

This is the exact answer I had shared in my Meta interview in 2021. :( Even though my Instagram screen time was really high (7 hours per day at some point), the solution I came up with during the interview was really disappointing.

As some wise men said—an interview isn't a test of skills, it's a test of preparedness.