How would you enhance the Meta AI chatbot experience within Instagram direct messages?

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How would you enhance the Meta AI chatbot experience within Instagram direct messages?

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Ujjwald · Answer 1 · 2025-04-15T04:31:58+0000

Step 1 - Briefly explain the product

I would like to start by describing my understanding of the AI chatbot that meta uses. This is the chatbot inside Instagram using which you can have a conversation with it. There are some helper ideas to get you started but you can have any free form conversation like with any other person. The bot is built on Llama, which is Meta's foundational AI model, and this model is available on other Meta apps as well, such as Whatsapp, Facebook and Messenger.

Is my understanding correct, or is there anything else I need to know in the context of this question before I dig deeper.

Interviewer - I think it's fine.

Step 2 - Narrow down the scope of the problem

I have a few questions I would like to ask before actually digging deeper into the problem. Why do we feel the need to enhance this chatbot? Are enough people not chatting with the bot? Are people dropping off after a few threads in the conversation? Or is it more strategic where we see the world moving towards agents and we want to do something in that space as well leveraging the bot?

Interviewer - It's a bit of all 3 actually.

Step 3 - Segment users and shortlist user groups

Currently the bot experience is part of Instagram, so I would like to segment the instagram users here. Can I take a minute to write down some thoughts before sharing them?

Interviewer - Sure.

In Instagram, we have the following broad user segments.

Content Creators
Content consumers (posters)
Advertisers

I think it's important to note the flywheel that is crucial to Instagram's business model. So more consumers would mean more creators create content on Instagram, which would mean more revenue from advertising.

If we look deeper into the content consumers, I would like to segment the users by the following.

Power Users - Visit instagram daily and spend at least 30 mins to an hour on Instagram
Casual Users - Visiti instagram, maybe once a week or so and spend around 15 mins and then leave. These don't visit very frequently.
Non-users - Visit maybe once in a month or two and are not at all active.

I want to target the casual and non-users here, because making them visit more frequently will have a great impact on that fly wheel and that would result in gains for Instagram and Meta as a company

Step 4 - Identify and Prioritize pain points

Next, I would like to go over some of the pain points that the users of this segment and more generally, this generation faces. Can I take a couple of minutes to come up with that list?

User Journey	Pain Point	Priority
Login	Overwhelmed with too many things coming at you at the same time	L - This is a problem but the product is so mature that people are now used to this.
Scrolling through the platform	Spend too much time doomscrolling	M - This is a problem which hinders the app's growth amongst the new generation because some of them are terrified of getting addicted and it also leads to bad press. I am putting this as Medium because at an OS level (both Android and iOS) we can restrict the usage of apps based on the time.
	I like a certain dress in a picture posted but I am not able to find that anywhere	H - This is a great problem to solve from an engagement perspective as if I see some dress in a picture or some neat electronics item that is not sponsored, I would like to see where I could get that from
	I like something and a brand is selling on instagram but I do not know about it. For eg., there is a cold brew that some people speak highly about but I don't know about that brand.	M - This is a problem again where users can know based on their preference if a new brand is coming up. I am not keeping this as high because brands do invest in Instagram on marketing so more often that not this will come up on the users' feed.
Talking to friends	Something is bothering me so I just want to rant to someone but my friends are not online or its late at night and I don't want to disturb them.	H - Mental health is an increasingly important trend and this is something that will be important to cater to
	Don't know who I reach out to for certain issues that I am facing	H - Instagram actually has helpful videos such as how to open a car that gets locked with the keys inside, etc. So, showing these videos in context is actually quite helpful

So, based on the above, let's tackle these 3 challenges.

I like a certain dress in a picture posted but I am not able to find that anywhere
Something is bothering me so I just want to rant to someone but my friends are not online or its late at night and I don't want to disturb them.
Don't know who I reach out to for certain issues that I am facing

If we look at these 3 cases, all these 3 cases are something that can be tackled with the help of an assistant.

Step 5 - Brainstorm solutions and prioritize

Let's look at an Instagram Assistant - Donna, that will help you solve these problems.

Pain Point	Solution	Impact to Goal	Effort
I like a certain dress in a picture posted but I am not able to find that anywhere	Look up the various brands that have the same dress and show those dresses there	Medium - This will not impact the engagement metric as much and may also be seen as too in your face if not done right	Low - Should already be available
	Have an interaction between the assistant and the page, and load the instagram page with the details of the brands that are selling the same dress	High - This will allow more people to interact with the assistant as well as lead to more engagement	High - This will need an image recognition model that matches with the images in the DB and then fetch the results
Something is bothering me so I just want to rant to someone but my friends are not online or its late at night and I don't want to disturb them.	Free form writing and just exchanging thoughts. Help them get better at a certain skill	Medium - A lot of people struggle with skills such as writing and this could be used from within instagram. The assistant could just guide you with how to get better. I am putting this as medium because Instagram may not be the best platform for this.	Low - The Llama model already would do this, so it should be doable
	Create a daily planner or a to do and check in with the user on the progress to make them more productive	High - The assistant could work with you to set up a daily planner and keep you honest. Every time the user comes, the assistant could check in with them on the progress	Medium - We need to check in with the user every day to see how the progress is.
	Listen to the rant and try to advice and let them seek help if required	Low - I understand mental health is important but this may not be the best place to do that	Low
Don't know who I reach out to for certain issues that I am facing	Give them list of businesses to reach out to in case of any issue. For instance, I left the keys in the car, etc.	Low - People would probably google them	Medium - Needs to check the directory. Last I checked, Llama needs to get better at this
	If available, load some quick videos that they can try out so that these issues get resolved. For instance, how to change a flat tyre.	High - This could be useful and improve the engagement on the app	Medium - Load the correct video based on the request made.

Based on the above, I would prioritize the following.

Create a daily planner or a to do and check in with the user on the progress to make them more productive
If available, load some quick videos that they can try out so that these issues get resolved. For instance, how to change a flat tyre.
Have an interaction between the assistant and the page, and load the instagram page with the details of the brands that are selling the same dress

We can actually have an assistant like Donna (maybe even in the same tone as the character from Suits who can assist the user with various decisions)

The last one may be high effort but if we can nail it it would lead to increased engagement.

Step 7 - Metrics to be tracked

I would track the following metrics of the chat bot

Avg. no. of interactions (1 bot interaction and 1 user response will be 1 interaction) per day
Number of assistant sessions per day
Number of sessions leading to an action (for eg. if we build point 3 above, how many of the sessions led to a purchase decision)

Step 8 - Summary

In summary, we were looking to enhance the Meta AI chatbot messages within the Instagram DMs. With that regard, we narrowed down to the casual and the non-users of Instagram and we wanted to make them use this to improve engagement. We listed a set of problem and came up with the following problems.

I like a certain dress in a picture posted but I am not able to find that anywhere
Something is bothering me so I just want to rant to someone but my friends are not online or its late at night and I don't want to disturb them.
Don't know who I reach out to for certain issues that I am facing

Based on the problems, we came up with the following solutions, which we wanted to achieve with the help of the assistant, Donna

Create a daily planner or a to do and check in with the user on the progress to make them more productive
If available, load some quick videos that they can try out so that these issues get resolved. For instance, how to change a flat tyre.
Have an interaction between the assistant and the page, and load the instagram page with the details of the brands that are selling the same dress

We could track the following metrics to see if the enhancements help improve engagement.

Avg. no. of interactions (1 bot interaction and 1 user response will be 1 interaction) per day
Number of assistant sessions per day
Number of sessions leading to an action (for eg. if we build point 3 above, how many of the sessions led to a purchase decision)