Amplifying voices and social causes through Passion Guides.
CHALLENGE
The rate of misinformation spread across the internet has only increased in the last 5 years, exacerbated by the 2016 election and 2020 pandemic. In early 2022, Instagram decided to remove the Reshare sticker feature from Stories, hoping to slow this spread and develop a longer-term solution to this issue. As a result, this created more friction for users who depended on IG as a platform to amplify their voice and share content they were passionate about.
The feature also did not inspire users to create fresh content - rather, the same content would be circulating in the feed. This experience didn’t align with the company’s values and success metrics.
GOALS & VISION
This opportunity was presented as a hackathon project within Meta. I joined this project, along with two product managers and the IG stories team, for a month to explore this problem and pitch a conceptual solution to leadership at the end of the hack.
We developed a shared vision of supporting users of IG (specifically those who used the platform to promote social causes) by creating avenues for them to share, distribute and connect with others in their communities.
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Our users needed a more permanent place for content they cared about - not just an ephemeral post on Stories. This helped them develop their following over time and build online communities around shared passions. I audited IG’s current features within Personal and Business accounts to see where this experience could live. After several ideation workshops, we decided to house this feature within the Guide page.
We also wanted this experience to not be bound to the Story creation mode. Users could create original content and include saved content on a scrollable page, but still have existing Story features like stickers and text support.
FINAL PROTOTYPE VIDEO
IMPACT
The team presented this concept to IG leadership and proposed an implementation plan. It was well received, and the Stories team reached out to discuss future opportunities to incorporate this idea into their roadmap.
It was a great learning experience and opportunity for me to be a part of the Instagram team, pushing my skills using a new design system and delivering quickly while adhering to high design standards.