What would you do if you were a head of product at Meta?

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What would you do if you were a head of product at Meta?

Asked at Google over a year ago

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chandra-singh · Answer 1 · 2022-03-05T01:52:33+0000

Clarifications

Vision of meta is to enabling superior communication between people.

Is there a change in strategy on how Meta should achieve it? - Yes, recently there has been a lot of push to change the game on how people communicate? Focus is on making it more real life, instead of just communicating via screen. We have all heard Mark Zuckerberg talk about using VR to communicate.

Am I the product head across FB, Instagram, Whatsapp ? – Yes

Responsibility is global? - Yes

About Meta

Strengths:

Huge base of active users

Technology – use existing/ create new

Knack for identifying good communication platforms outside the companies – whatsapp, Instagram

Cash rich

Weakness:

Facebook is on a downward trajectory –user behaviour and expectations have changed overtime – In addition to public communication, people also want to communicate more within closed groups of friends

Concern on privacy & data sharing

Revenue growth may be going down (assumed)

Scope:

Goal: User acquisition and engagement

Looking at a strategy across all products in the Meta portfolio

Strategy

International expansion of existing products - FB, Instagram, Whatsapp

Acquire new companies in the social communication space

Build content (esp. Video content) take on video streaming cos

Build services on existing products – house rentals, buy/ sell goods

Rethink communication – build new capabilities – experiment with teleportation, more real communication

Evaluation:

Evaluation criteria: user acquisition, engagement, Strategic alignment, complexity

	user acquisition	engagement	Strategic alignment	complexity
International expansion of existing products	Low	Medium	High	Low
Acquire new companies in the social communication space	High	High	High	Medium
Build content - Video content take on video streaming cos	High	High	Medium	Medium
Build services – house rentals, buy/ sell goods	Medium	High	High	High
Rethink communication – build new technology – experiment with teleportation, more real communication	High	High	High	Very High

Recommendation: Would like to recommend a focus on two strategies. Meta is cash rich, so at this stage it can afford to invest on these strategies.

1. Acquire new companies in the social communication space – Historically, this has worked for Meta. They have a knack of understand what works in the space. Best ideas may always not be there in your company, but you can get them acquired from elsewhere. It is important to ensure that new companies are high growth and with added cash, reach, technology support of Meta, they can scale up further.

2. Rethink communication, build new capabilities/ technologies – experiment with teleportation, more real like communication. VR based communication technology is already there for e.g. FB can provide the technology impetus it needs. It may require acquiring, partnering with companies which have already made more progress on this.

Bharat Rathi · Answer 2 · 2022-02-20T21:52:42+0000

Candidate

To clarify, as a Head of Product for Meta – The Product line I am responsible for is

· Facebook

· Instagram

· WhatsApp

· Metaverse

Interviewer

That’s right

Candidate

Thanks. And to further clarify your question. You are asking me to devise a strategy for Metaverse in the wake of current challenges Meta is facing?

Interviewer

Yes

Candidate

Meta recently announced their Q4 results andQ1 2022 projection which lead to Meta stock price decline which is still continuing

Interviewer

Ok

Candidate

Here are the problems Meta is facing currently

· As per Q4’ 21 results -- YOY revenue for Meta increased but their profitability declined

· Because of recent changes in Apple’s privacy policy – Meta is not able to create targeted ads for Apple users

· Reduced customer engagement due to rise in popularity of Tik Tok

Evidently there is a decline in customer Engagement and also Meta is not able to enable advertisers for targeted ads. Are there any other problems you want me to discover to focus on the above problems and move forward?

Interviewer

I think the problems you have stated are relevant and I am good for you to move forward with these ones

Candidate

Sounds good. I think reduced customer engagement is the first problem, I want to tackle and come up with some short term and long terms solutions for the purposes of this exercise. Does that sound good or you want me to focus on other problem?

Interviewer

Customer Engagement problem sounds ok

Candidate

Thanks. I think Meta has tried to tackle customer engagement problem in

· Implemented short term strategy à Instagram Reels, however Tik Tok has gained a lot of popularity which is not easy to replace.

· Planned long term strategy à Metaverse. At this time, it is not clear how Metaverse will improve engagement for the overall product

I think, we need to implement a short-term strategy that will encourage Tik Tok users (creators and consumers) to switch Instagram reels. Also, as mid-term strategy – We need a transitory feature to Metaverse

Interviewer

Alright, please proceed

Candidate

I will conduct a quick SWOT analysis of Meta products to identify and optimize opportunities using the strengths product has to offer.

Strength

· ~3B DAU users

· Most of the celebrities are present on Instagram

· FB Mktplace has been gaining popularity and has turned out to be an important asset in the Meta ecosystem

· Whatsapp is a de-facto messaging app and widely used across the board

Weakness

· FB has declining popularity amongst Gen Z

· FB as a product has not been static in terms experience

Opportunity

· GenZ has a shift in the taste where content is pushed to them as opposed to being pulled by them

· None of the existing competitors have a deep product MOAT i.e., switching cost to a new product is very less

Threats

· Tik Tok has a rising popularity and is the first choice for short form videos

With the current state of Meta and its features I think we need to double down on its strengths and use the opportunities to improve user engagement

Here are the few solutions, which I feel can help improve the engagement

1. Work with celebrities to come up with regular trends that include Instagram branding – Each trend to have custom video editor for faster video upload

2. Enable whatsapp users to add a short form reels video on their profile picture and help content creators with improved monetization (double the incentive) if the video are watched through profile pictures

3. Enable authors to create avatar of Facebook and auto create avatar-based video for the post

4. Enable Marketplace users to create short form videos of their products

a. Any reel created on Instagram which has brand embedded or engagement within can easily be added to Mkt place with single click

Interviewer

These look like some promising ideas, how do you go about prioritizing those

Candidate

Sure, here is my prioritization matrix

Solution	Impact to engagement	Go to market speed	Priority
Work with celebrities to come up with regular trends that include Instagram branding – Each trend to have custom video editor for faster video upload	Very High	Fast	1
Enable whatsapp users to add a short form reels video on their profile picture and help content creators with improved monetization (double the incentive) if the video are watched through profile pictures	Medium to High	Fast	1
Enable authors to create avatar of Facebook and auto create avatar-based video for the post	High	Medium to Fast	2
Enable Marketplace users to create short form videos of their products · Any reel created on Instagram which has brand embedded or engagement within can easily be added to Mkt place with single click	High	Fast	1

Interviewer

Sounds good

pavan roy · Answer 3 · 2022-09-26T11:56:14+0000

Clarifying questions:

Are we talking about particular product or overall? Overall

Are we talking about particular geography or overall, the world? Overall

Is there any new product launched or any change in strategy? NO

Describe Company and Product (SWOT Analysis)

Meta is a social-networking company which has mainly four products: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Metaverse.

Meta’s mission is “to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”.

Meta’s vision statement is” to bring metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses.”

Strength	Weakness
1. 3 billion userbase with Network effect 2. Expanding ecosystem of IT Products 3. World’s strongest IT and online service brands	1. Low diversification with primary dependence on social networking 2. High vulnerability to online advertising trends 3. Imitable business model and services
Opportunity	Threat
1. Business diversification to limit reliance on digital advertising 2. Market penetration and development to increase revenues 3. New partnerships and alliances with third parties to support stronger presence in the Metaverse.	1. Competition, especially in the online advertising space 2. Sociocultural trends that reduce Facebook usage 3. Cybercrime

List the Strategy

· Focuses on strengthening the Metaverse

· Meta can diversify to create new revenue channels other than social media Advertising.

· Meta can implement market development to increase its market share in areas that have low rate of adoption of its social networking services.

· Alliances with other organizations can enhance Meta’s business performance.

Evaluation Criteria

UX, engagement, Revenue, implementation effort

Evaluate strategies on criteria

	UX	Engagement	Revenue	Implementation Effort
Metaverse	increase	increase	High	High
New Revenue channels	increase	Increase	Low	medium
Increase market share in low rate of Adoption	increase	increase	Low	Medium
Alliances with other organizations	increase	increase	Low	Medium

Recommendation

As Meta focuses on developing the Metaverse, the Meta can diversify to create new revenue channels other than social media advertising especially on Facebook, Instagram and messenger. Alliances and partnerships with other organizations can enhance Meta’s business performance. These recommendations focus on strengthening the metaverse and digit advertising business to make the company less vulnerable to the threat outlined in The SWOT analysis.