Facebook Product Manager Interview: Meaningful Social Metrics

Summary

In this mock product management interview, the guest, a seasoned PM at Facebook, discusses defining a meaningful social interaction metric for the Facebook app. The conversation delves into Facebook's mission, the importance of breadth and depth in metrics, and the significance of user engagement in driving the platform's success. The interviewee suggests focusing on active users who create posts receiving substantial interactions as a key metric, while addressing potential risks such as divisive content and content discovery challenges.

Takeaways

• 😀 The interviewee, Audit, is a Product Manager at Facebook with experience in Facebook Groups, consumer payments, and previously worked at Uber and eBay.
• 🚀 Audit emphasizes the importance of framing the problem by understanding the mission of Facebook and the value it brings to society before identifying metrics.
• 📈 The discussion focuses on defining meaningful social interaction metrics for the Facebook app, considering both breadth (volume) and depth (value) of user engagement.
• 🔍 Audit suggests looking at daily active users, weekly active users, monthly active users, number of sessions, and time spent to gauge user engagement from a breadth perspective.
• 💬 For depth, metrics such as the number of people interacting, number of posts made, reactions per post, and views are considered to measure the value users derive from the platform.
• 🌐 The conversation assumes a global scale for the metric, applicable to the primary Facebook app and not limited to any specific country or demographic.
• 🎯 Audit identifies the 'north star' metric as the number of active users who make posts receiving a significant level of reactions, reflecting meaningful social interaction.
• 🤔 Risks associated with this metric include the potential for divisive content to drive interactions and the challenge of content discovery as more users become active posters.
• 🛠 Audit recommends using tracking metrics to monitor the quality of interactions, such as sentiment analysis on comments and the number of flags on posts.
• 📝 The interview concludes with Audit providing tips for PM interviews, including setting a clear framework, considering supply and demand dynamics, and acknowledging risks in any chosen metric.
• 👍 The mock interview demonstrates a structured approach to problem-solving, emphasizing the importance of aligning metrics with the company's mission and strategic goals.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the interview with the Facebook PM?

The primary focus of the interview is to discuss and define a meaningful social interaction metric for the Facebook app.

What is the role of the interviewee in Facebook?

The interviewee is a Product Manager (PM) at Facebook, currently working on Facebook Groups and having experience in consumer payments and commerce.

What is the mission of Facebook according to the interviewee?

The mission of Facebook is to give power to people to build community and bring the world closer together.

What are the different use cases of Facebook as mentioned in the interview?

The different use cases include staying connected with friends and family, being part of communities or Facebook groups, following creators for entertainment, and following businesses or brands.

Why did the interviewee transition from being a software engineer to a product manager?

The interviewee found more intrigue in the journey of building products and switched to being a PM after realizing that software engineering was not their calling.

How does the interviewee categorize metrics for evaluating social interaction on Facebook?

The interviewee categorizes metrics into two lenses: breadth, which reflects volume, and depth, which focuses on the value derived from that volume.

What are some examples of depth metrics discussed in the interview?

Examples of depth metrics include the number of people interacting within groups or with friends/family, the number of people making posts, and the number of reactions per post.

What metric does the interviewee propose as the 'north star' for meaningful social interaction on Facebook?

The interviewee proposes the metric of daily/weekly/monthly active people who made a post that received a certain level of reactions as the 'north star' metric.

What are the potential risks or downsides of the chosen 'north star' metric?

Potential risks include the discovery burden of content as more people post, the possibility of divisive content attracting more interactions, and the challenge of maintaining content quality.

How does the interviewee suggest mitigating the risks associated with the chosen metric?

The interviewee suggests using tracking metrics such as sentiment analysis on comments, the number of flags on posts, and ensuring the distribution system effectively delivers content to users.

What tips does the interviewee provide for those preparing for PM interviews?

The tips include setting a clear framework for approaching the problem, considering supply and demand in a two-sided problem context, and being open about risks associated with chosen metrics.

Outlines

00:00

🤝 Introduction to Social Interaction Metric Discussion

The video script begins with an introduction to an interview focusing on product management, specifically tasked with defining a meaningful social interaction metric for Facebook. The guest, an experienced PM at Facebook, gives a brief overview of their background, including previous roles at Uber and eBay. The conversation is framed around the Facebook app, not extending to other products like Messenger or WhatsApp. The metric's purpose is to evaluate the app's success and monitor its health, with an emphasis on its global application rather than a country-specific approach.

05:02

🔍 Exploring the Purpose and Scope of Facebook's Mission

The second paragraph delves into the mission of Facebook, which is to empower people to build communities and bring the world closer together. The guest discusses the primary use case of Facebook as a platform for staying connected with friends and family, as well as for joining communities and groups that offer a sense of belonging. Additionally, the platform serves as a source of entertainment, following interests, and engaging with businesses and creators. The guest emphasizes the importance of considering all these aspects when defining a meaningful social interaction metric, aiming for a holistic approach that encompasses the full breadth of Facebook's purpose.

10:04

📊 Identifying Metrics for Social Interaction

In this paragraph, the discussion shifts to identifying potential metrics for measuring social interaction on Facebook. The guest introduces the concepts of 'breadth' and 'depth' as lenses for evaluating metrics. Breadth metrics, such as daily, weekly, and monthly active users, along with the number of sessions and time spent on the platform, are considered to reflect the volume of user engagement. Depth metrics, on the other hand, focus on the value derived from interactions, such as the number of people interacting within groups or with posts, the number of posts made, and the reactions and comments received per post. The guest suggests that a meaningful metric should reflect both the quantity and quality of social interactions on the platform.

15:06

📈 Selecting a Primary Metric for Social Interaction

The guest narrows down the discussion to select a primary metric that captures meaningful social interaction on Facebook. They propose focusing on the number of active users who make posts that receive a significant level of reactions, comments, and views as the deepest form of value in social interaction. This metric is seen as a reflection of Facebook's mission to foster community and connection, and it is suggested that tracking the number of people who create such posts, rather than just the posts themselves, is crucial to ensure a broad and engaged user base.

20:08

🚧 Risks and Considerations in Metric Selection

This paragraph addresses potential risks and downsides associated with the chosen metric. The guest acknowledges that while the metric encourages more user-generated content, it also places a burden on Facebook's ecosystem to effectively distribute this content to ensure continued user engagement. They also discuss the risk of divisive content gaining traction due to high interaction rates, which could lead to negative consequences. The guest suggests tracking metrics to monitor the sentiment of interactions and the quality of content being shared as a way to mitigate these risks.

25:11

🗣️ Final Thoughts and Interview Tips

In the concluding paragraph, the guest offers advice for those preparing for product management interviews. They emphasize the importance of setting a clear framework for approaching a problem, considering supply and demand dynamics, and acknowledging that no metric is perfect. The guest encourages candidates to be open about potential risks and to use tracking metrics to address them. The mock interview wraps up with a summary of the key points discussed and well-wishes for the audience preparing for their own interviews.

Keywords

💡Social Interaction Metric

A social interaction metric is a quantitative measure used to assess the level of engagement and interaction within a social platform. In the context of the video, it is pivotal for evaluating the success of Facebook's app in fostering meaningful connections. The script discusses the importance of identifying such metrics to monitor the health and success of the platform, with a focus on user engagement through posts, reactions, and comments.

💡Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are a feature within the Facebook app that allows users to create and join communities based on shared interests, locations, or activities. In the script, the speaker mentions their work on Facebook Groups, emphasizing the role of these groups in facilitating social interactions and building a sense of community, which is integral to Facebook's mission.

💡Product Management

Product Management (PM) is the function within a company that oversees the planning, development, and marketing of a product. The script features an interview with an experienced PM at Facebook, who discusses the strategic approach to defining and measuring social interactions on the platform, showcasing the critical role PMs play in guiding product direction and success.

💡Engagement

Engagement, in a social media context, refers to the level of user interaction with content, including likes, comments, shares, and time spent on the platform. The video script highlights engagement as a key aspect of the social interaction metric, with the interviewee discussing how metrics like reactions per post and active users contribute to Facebook's social flywheel.

💡Flywheel

The flywheel concept in the script metaphorically describes the self-reinforcing cycle of user engagement on social media. As users post and interact with content, it encourages further user participation, spinning the 'flywheel' of social interaction. The interviewee uses this concept to explain the desired outcome of Facebook's social interaction metrics.

💡Breadth and Depth

Breadth and depth are dimensions used to evaluate metrics. Breadth refers to the volume or reach, such as daily active users, while depth refers to the quality or value derived from interactions. The script discusses using both breadth and depth to identify meaningful social interaction metrics, ensuring a balance between the number of users and their level of engagement.

💡Content Creation

Content creation is the process of producing material to be shared on social platforms. In the video, the interviewee emphasizes the importance of users creating posts as a core part of meaningful social interaction on Facebook. The script explores how the platform can encourage and measure the value derived from user-generated content.

💡Reactions

Reactions on Facebook refer to the various ways users can respond to content, such as 'like,' 'love,' 'haha,' 'wow,' 'sad,' and 'angry.' The script discusses reactions as a key metric for measuring engagement and the value of social interactions, where a higher number of reactions indicates a more meaningful post.

💡Risks and Counter Metrics

Risks and counter metrics are considerations and additional measurements used to identify and mitigate potential issues with primary metrics. The interviewee in the script acknowledges that while a chosen metric may drive certain behaviors, it could also lead to unintended consequences, such as divisive content or power users skewing the metric. Counter metrics help to balance and provide a more holistic view of platform health.

💡Strategic Decisions

Strategic decisions are long-term, high-level choices made by a company to achieve its goals. In the script, the interviewee discusses how social interaction metrics can inform strategic decisions at Facebook, such as product development directions or changes in platform features to enhance user engagement.

💡User Experience

User experience (UX) is the overall experience a user has while interacting with a product, including how easy and enjoyable it is to use. The script touches on the importance of UX in the context of social interaction metrics, as a positive experience can encourage users to engage more, thus contributing to the platform's success.

Highlights

The interviewee, an experienced PM at Facebook, discusses defining a meaningful social interaction metric for the Facebook app.

The conversation begins with an introduction to the interviewee's background, including their work on Facebook Groups and consumer payments.

The interviewee emphasizes the importance of understanding Facebook's mission when considering social interaction metrics.

Differentiating between breadth and depth metrics to evaluate the success and engagement of the Facebook app.

Daily active users, weekly active users, and time spent are identified as key breadth metrics for the Facebook app.

Depth metrics such as the number of people interacting, posting, and receiving reactions are discussed for evaluating engagement.

The interviewee suggests that a meaningful social interaction metric should reflect Facebook's mission of bringing people together.

The selection of metrics should align with Facebook's global scale and not be limited to specific countries or regions.

The interviewee proposes considering metrics that cover various use cases of the Facebook app, including groups, pages, and businesses.

The importance of content creation and distribution for the social network's flywheel effect is highlighted.

The interviewee chooses the metric of active users making posts that receive a certain level of interaction as the most meaningful social interaction.

The risk of power users driving metrics too high and the need for balanced content discovery are discussed.

The potential downside of divisive content receiving more interactions and the challenge of content quality is considered.

The interviewee suggests using sentiment analysis and flagging as tracking metrics to monitor the quality of interactions.

The interview concludes with the interviewee providing tips for PM interviews, emphasizing the importance of setting a clear framework and considering risks.

The mock interview wraps up with a summary of the key points and a thank you to the audience for watching.

Transcripts

describe a meaningful social interaction

metric for facebook

[Music]

hey everyone welcome back to another

exponent product management mock

interview i'm super excited to have

audit today we're going to be doing an

execution question and before we get

started audit do you want to say a few

words to the audience hey everyone

excited to be here ahmadit i'm a pm at

facebook

been here for close to three years now

currently working on facebook groups

i've also dabbled with consumer payments

in the past for facebook as well uh

and prior to facebook worked at uber

trying to reduce car accidents on the

uber platform and then all things

commerce uh at uh ebay

um

started off as a software engineer uh

quickly realized that was not my calling

i was more intrigued by the journey of

building products and i switched over to

being a pm been a pm for more than a

decade

um yeah it's been a fun ride so far just

loving it uh so looking forward to this

conversation as well

nice yeah thanks for coming on and

lending your expertise to the audience

here so this is the question that i'd

like to ask for today's execution

interview

describe a meaningful social interaction

metric for facebook

cool

um

[Music]

let me unpack this one with a couple of

questions

um

when we say facebook i think we're

assuming given that you're also saying

that it's a social interaction i'm

assuming this is for the facebook app uh

not for other apps like

you know messenger or

whatsapp or other facebook products as

well i'm assuming it's for the social

platform which is facebook app the

primary facebook app yeah yeah let's

let's scope it to just being the

facebook app the primary facebook app

got it got it that makes sense um and

can you also provide any context on how

this metric will be used is it primarily

to

you know evaluate success of the app or

is it to monitor the health of the app

or like to make any product or strategic

decisions as well

yeah um so if i were to say that this

was to

like

monitor the success of the app versus to

make strategic decisions do you think

you would answer this question

differently

sometimes the metrics might be different

maybe if you're looking at like

strategic long-term bets you would look

at

you know metrics certain new metrics in

into the mix to evaluate the future

or look at some sort of trends but also

if you're looking to evaluate the

current state

maybe the metrics might be slightly

different but on the ballpark should be

around the same uh same metrics as well

got it um let's say that the executive

team just wants to have some dashboard

that

lets them know if the primary facebook

app is successful or not so that's why

you're being asked this question got it

got it got it okay that makes sense uh

and then

maybe one last question before i get

started i'm assuming this is at a global

scale you're not looking at any country

by country or any other cuts like

assuming it's a global scam

yeah facebook is a global app so i think

that makes sense for the geographic

scope

got it got it um

make sense i'll if i have any other

questions i'll ask along the process as

well

um

let me take a couple of moments to see

how i can organize my thoughts and then

i can i can come back with more as well

yeah sounds good

okay um

at a high level i want to approach this

in this way i want to start off with

discuss discussing uh the mission of

facebook um and then what it means to uh

to be a social network like what's the

value that it brings to the society uh

talk a little bit about that

uh then

given that broader context of what the

mission facebook is serving uh want to

identify

maybe a few different metrics

um you know that covers

you know a top-level metrics that one

would look at in a dashboard when it

comes to thinking about facebook and

then maybe identify

one or two key metrics that i think

would be a good representation of a

meaningful social interaction

and see how that

holds up against uh facebook's overall

mission uh and current state to an

extent and then maybe we can talk about

uh say risks and counter metrics as well

like if that sounds good sure yeah this

sounds good cool awesome um let me start

with

mission of facebook right so

we all know this one so it's it's about

you know giving power to people to build

a community and bringing the world

closer uh that's been facebook's mission

for a while now and if you were to

unpack that one what it means is that

you know as someone using facebook you

can actually stay connected to friends

and family that's your primary

use case primary motivation for why

someone comes on facebook platform but

there are also other scenarios as well

right like you can be a part of a

community or facebook group or follow uh

someone who's like you know

a sense of a sense of community or a

sense of belonging that's another reason

why people come to facebook and find

value as well and that's inherently

social in nature too

uh obviously there is with in uh in

today's world there's also like the

other reasons why people come to

facebook as well which is like

entertainment value you can follow your

favorite creator who's creating videos

uh or like you know you can follow

another gamer if you're interested in

that kind of stuff so uh you know it

also provides a sense of uh you know

following your interests you know

following your uh you know

and and being within part of a community

as well and then lastly i think this is

also another thing where uh facebook is

really you know getting started is as

well as like following businesses if you

like any any businesses that you like or

any brands that you want to follow um

it could be small businesses that's just

a

you know a small bakery down this down

the street to like popular brands like

that you want to follow and learn more

about their products as well

to me when i look at it uh

this is all represents like the

facebook's app's purpose and mission as

well which is a bringing people closer

that's where your friends family staying

in connection with that really happens

uh and also like you know being a part

of a community and have a sense of

belonging that's where you're you know

being part of a facebook group uh you

know following a business interacting

with a business or like you know

following a creator all of that comes

into play as well

so at least to get started where i'm

headed towards is like to define a

meaningful social interaction i'll

actually look at metrics that are

holistic that covers all of these use

cases and that have that and try to

bring the uh you know bring a social

interaction

in all of these aspects as well instead

of like you know focusing on one or two

uh why not to use cases because at the

end of the day these are all part of

facebook for a reason which is to bring

people together and and you know and

build a community as well um does that

sound good yeah that sounds good

cool um give me a couple minutes uh i

think metrics i'll jot down a few

different metrics and i i'll walk you

through that as well cool yeah curious

to see where we go from here cool

okay um i have a few metrics that i

would like to start with uh and then in

the process try to pick one or two key

metrics uh that aligns with what we're

looking for as well

um

i personally look at metrics in two

different lenses so one is

breadth which is basically reflects

volume uh and also depth which requires

like you know you know focuses more on

the value that this volume of people in

in case of facebook are going to get as

well uh so just to call out a few uh

metrics right when it comes to depth

when i'm looking at volume is basically

like daily active people

weekly active people

monthly active people like i think you

know you can look at it in a few

different active people like in a

different time frame as well um another

thing that represents that is like

number of sessions because in a social

media you obviously have people you want

people to come back in more number of

times during the day to stay connected

um and also time spent right because you

just want

people to spend more time on facebook

and get value out of it as well so

whenever i'm thinking about breadth

that's what i'm thinking about like more

number of people coming in more

frequently and then hence spending more

time on the platform because they're

finding more value

um and when it comes to depth i'm

actually looking at uh more deeper value

right because i've looked at volume now

like what is the value that people are

getting right because as i told you

people are coming earlier that people

are coming to stay in connection with

friends and family where they post about

their self like provide a personal

update uh to their family they're you

know part of a group interacting with a

group uh you know interacting with a

business or interacting with a creator

as well so i would say uh

you know the depth could be you can

start with as uh

you know as

highest at the lowest level of depth

which is which is basically you can

start with number of people who are

actually just interacting right with any

of these you know within a group within

a with a friends or a family um or with

a business that's like you know the

number of people who are interacting

and then you can actually go even deeper

which is which is where you can start

with saying number of people who

actually made a post because you're just

not just interacting now you're actually

uh uh you know you are uh posting which

is also that's a big part of the social

network flywheel as well right because

you need content for people to come in

and stay engaged as well so people

coming in and making a post uh and then

for the every post uh you know number of

reaction that was received so number of

reactions per post it could be like um

you know all the all those suite of

reactions comments everything included

into that uh could be like if you made a

post how did how was it perceived

because it's part of the feedback loop

and for the flywheel for the social

network to actually work um

and then um

also views because you're also consuming

a lot of content so many people might

not be passively there but like number

of views that uh that your post received

as well

um

so and then i think even you can go even

more deeper uh in terms of value

uh is uh where

a daily active person or a weekly active

person made a post and that post

actually generated a

you know certain level of interactions

right like instead of getting like

shallow one or two level reaction it

actually received let's say for example

making this up like 10 reactions where

10 people liked it found it valuable

found it insightful made comments about

it as well so i think that's the deepest

form of value that i can actually think

of in terms of uh

when it comes to a social interaction

right like so uh where somebody's

actually posting and that posting

actually received a good number of

reactions from from the network uh

within friends and family within

community you can apply the same thing

to uh about businesses as well or like

if you're responding to a common uh

creator that could be any uh

um that could be uh a meaningful social

interaction as well um but obviously

like the thresholds can vary like you

know if you're interacting with the

family friends and family and

that's a smaller set of volume so you

might get fewer reactions or fewer

responses per post so the thresholds for

like uh you know if you're reacting

within a community can be a little bit

higher because you're like so many

you're part of so many groups or like

your community can be like i've seen

groups that

have million plus members as well so you

can have the thresholds vary uh but you

can see how you can define a meaningful

metric that way um

so given all this i'll pause here any

any questions that any other metrics

that you want me to consider any

questions you might have and then before

we pick the metric that kind of aligns

with uh what we're looking for yeah so

um interesting discussion just to play

this back to you just to make sure we're

on the same page you you think about

metrics and two lenses you have breadth

and depth um breath i guess the way that

you're describing it is it very similar

to adoption where you're looking at like

daily active users and time spent and

then for depth this sounds like very

like engagement metrics right like how

how are users getting value you've

described the flywheel where you know

users are posting and then they're

getting reactions and comments and maybe

these comments and reactions maybe

there's some that are very deep that

incentivize users to post even more so

that spins the flywheel um

okay cool uh one question here is we

mentioned that we want to

find a meaningful social interaction

metric for the primary facebook app um

this sounds good for the news feed but

what about like groups and pages that

you've mentioned earlier for like

interests and businesses

the same thing can apply for groups as

well so if you think about within groups

today

you can be a member or you can be an

admin and you can actually make a post

uh and if did that post did the group

find it insightful valuable uh the way

you can measure it is basically if it if

it's actually receiving responses right

so reactions comments and all of that

stuff so within the same thing can be

applied within the concept can be

applied within the communities other

facebook groups ecosystem as well

pages is is the same thing right you're

following a page

and you're actually

and you can do the same thing within the

pages ecosystem as well if like you're

basically following a celebrity or

following um

you know

brand anything when it comes to the

pages ecosystem or a public some sort of

a public figure so let's assume that

whatever interaction you make with that

page did that actually receive the same

number of comments likes

whatnot can be you can come up with an

uh similar one

and then the last one for creators it's

the same thing as well like you know if

you're a part of a creator like uh do

you repost their photos do you create

more value for them or do you interact

with them a lot more frequently and

hence that is actually causing more of

that flywheel to happen as well like

more likes more comments being generated

and hence that's actually creating that

social flywheel the similar concept of

like how we want to measure uh kind of

applies got it okay yeah that makes

sense across groups pages events there's

just content that's being posted people

are reacting to it um cool so yeah i'm

curious to see like how you would pick a

single social interaction metric that's

like the primary one for facebook

correct correct uh i think

we are getting there as well in the in

the during this conversation i think

the main metric that i would choose that

actually reflects a meaningful social

interaction uh would be you can

quantify it as like

uh an active daily active or weekly

active or monthly active people who

actually made a post

and that actually received a certain

level of

you know reactions uh to that post

that's the deepest form of value that

anybody can generate within the social

context that's actually beneficial for

them and for people who are actually

seeing that content and responding to

that content as well

and as facebook it truly reflects

facebook's mission as well because

you're just not creating uh you know

opportunities for people like to to be a

part of a community to react with their

friends and family but you're actually

measuring it

in a way where people are finding value

where people are coming in they're

sharing their life with friends and

family and hence getting the response uh

same thing with being a part of a

community a sense of belonging you know

they can post something in a facebook

group and they're getting more value out

of it

same thing applies to like pages where

they're following a celebrity or an uh

or a creator as well okay so if i'm

understanding you correctly you're

saying that you want to track the number

of posts on facebook with some

meaningful number of reactions and

comments right

correct i'm also saying that number of

people who actually made that post as

well so two metrics uh one is that

number of posts that received a certain

threshold of stuff and number of people

who actually made that as well it's a

reflection of both

breadth and depth as well

okay

why not daily active users just just

picking one of the other ones that you

mentioned

um daily active users is not

it is a shallow representation

of like what value somebody can get

in terms of being part of facebook as

well right because you are uh

you know coming in you're just

just logging into facebook is considered

as active maybe we can change the

definition of active but it could just

be like hey you've spent x number of

time without any interactions or

anything like that so it's just shallow

level of uh being adding value to the

social network but as facebook you

actually want when you look at

facebook's mission is that you actually

want people to find more value where you

want people to be active so that more

active generates that flywheel right

like if i'm coming in i'm actually

actively sharing posting commenting

interacting i'm actually creating that

flywheel and due to that other people

are actually going to do that as well so

it's it's important for facebook to have

that ld ecosystem where you have

uh you know consumers and that is

generating a lot of consumption as well

so as you have to look at it from

production uh and consumption so like

supply versus demand kind of a thing uh

so that's where it's true uh you know

facebook will be really successful in

the long term if you have more people

continuing to do this

on a regular cadence of time coming in

and generating value for generating

content and hence that is that is

getting more reach and more uh you know

distribution and hence more interactions

as well understood makes sense yes um

engagement definitely is a leading

indicator for retention and if we're

just having people come on to the

platform we optimize our daily active

users but people aren't really doing

anything retention is going to fall in

the long term makes sense

um if you could pick one of these

metrics are you you gave me two of them

the first one is number of people who

make these meaningful posts and the

second one is a number of posts with

these meaningful interactions which one

would you pick to be the north star i

would pick the people aspect of it

because there's only one

reason for that

is if you pick the other one which is

basically posts that are getting more

number of interactions there is a risk

of

like a power user just driving that

metric really high like you know someone

who's like you know actively social

butterfly was like coming in creating a

lot of post and they create like 10 15

posts per day and then that's actually

driving the volume but you actually want

as facebook if you have like two billion

people using it you actually want more

number of people coming in and creating

adding incremental value uh so that's

why it's like

daily active or weekly active or monthly

active people who

made a post and that post reached a

certain level of interaction that's what

i would optimize for

got it uh makes sense um and what are

some risks or um downsides to maybe

picking this metric

um

it's two things right i think

one

is obviously like it's it's a good thing

for facebook where you you can get more

number of people actually creating more

number of like posts and comment but it

actually is like it's a con maybe it's a

happy problem for facebook as well is

the discovery of this content

is more critical

now you

are in a in a world where people are

actually creating more content which is

actually healthy but it's also now

becomes burden on facebook's ecosystem

to deliver that content to people to

other people who they are and hence get

more more and more value as well because

if people are not finding like responses

reactions to some of the things that

they're actually posting there's a risk

that people might actually uh you know

stop sharing less as well right so you

need to make sure that uh

you know the distributions like the news

feeds your no push notifications uh any

other sources in which people can

receive this content is actually working

really well as well i think that's one

of the risks that

i see in terms of like uh you know

optimizing for this metric but i would

say this is an happy risk and this is

something that's a solvable problem but

um

you know that's one of the risks that i

see for this metric as well i see um

something else that i can think of and

not saying this is good or bad but you

know what what if there's we optimize

for the number of people who are posting

these um kind of uh posts that are

getting lots of reactions and comments

but these people are making very

divisive content um you know this this

question whether this content should

exist or not this is probably separate

discussion um but

uh do you do you see that as a risk as

well which is like the quality of

content that's being made

yes uh that that is another one that i

see as well uh but uh we

definitely i think

you know

there's a there's definitely a running

risk of like divisive content getting

more attraction because you have um

like people responding to it and you

know arguing against it or for it and

then that leads to a lot more

interactions in that process as well uh

it's a harder problem to solve uh

totally agree and that's something that

we can even measure in terms of um

like as a tracking metric there are ways

you can you can respond as well did like

you know there are like obviously a

positive set of reactions uh and a

negative set of reactions so you can

measure that way you can measure the

language uh that uh that people are

using some sort of con

comments uh you know sentimental

analysis on the comments or you can even

say like say for example how many times

this this post was flagged as well like

enough to appear you know by other

people saying that hey this is this is

something that needs to be taken down a

flag for review for facebook as well so

kind of things like that uh can be the

tracking metrics to see that as well so

that's another risk that i that i see as

well perfect yeah uh makes a lot of

sense looking at the sentiment uh making

sure that the top people who are posting

things are posting maybe like content

that you know isn't getting a bunch of

angry reactions from the community and

also checking to make sure that we're

not getting like a flood of posts that

are being flagged or reported um makes a

lot of sense cool um i think this wraps

up our mock interview city i thought

this was excellent thanks i did for your

your time here um i can give you some

quick feedback um i really enjoyed your

structure i think that um you did a

great job in the beginning just

unpacking what this question meant it

was a very vague question and you could

have taken it in any number of areas

where you could have spun this into

looking at whatsapp or instagram or

marketplace or like facebook dating um

but you you i think it made a lot of

sense for you to scope it to just be the

primary facebook

app

um i gave you some follow-up questions

around why not this metric that you

mentioned why not

what about groups what about businesses

i think you handled all of these pretty

gracefully um and you handled them

gracefully by kind of bringing back

to the mission which is how do we

measure you know people are building

communities and um you talked about the

similarities between all of these

different facebook products which is you

know people are posting and you want to

make sure that you're encouraging this

flywheel

and i thought you also did a really good

job of structuring your answer which is

talking about that the breath lens and

also the depth lens

um and you and in terms of depth you i

think you did a good job of identifying

that sort of catalyst in the flywheel

which makes the flywheel spin

um and you use that as the north star um

yeah great great mock interview and

before we wrap things up audit do you

have any tips for the audience who are

going through their own pm interviews

um i think just a couple of uh tips that

i

find uh

that i can share is like obviously like

set this

stage and framework of how you're

thinking about it there's no right or

wrong answer in terms of like right

framework versus like just clearly

setting the stage of like how we're

going to approach and how you're going

to solve this problem really sets the

stage because inter interviewers are

actually also

understand where you're going with this

as well i think that's something that i

would highly uh recommend a second one

obviously like when you can look at a

lot of different metrics uh you know

look at it in the lens of uh like supply

demand usually it's a two-sided problem

uh looking at it from either supply and

demand and then trying to see uh you

know pick a metric that actually can

you know benefit both the supply and

demand is actually the right thing to do

as well um

and i think another thing is that you

you brought up a good point about risks

uh

no metric is perfect

and it's okay to have risks uh and not

continuously defend like this metric is

perfect and this is uh something that uh

uh you know

just be open and you know think about

risk more proactively it's okay no

metric is perfect you can always cover

it up with tracking metrics as well and

those are three things that i would uh

that i would uh recommend

awesome uh makes a lot of sense so for

the audience watching at home i hope

this video was very valuable to you as

you prepare for your pm interviews and

good luck and thanks for watching

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