How would you measure the success of Meta (Facebook) Likes?
Meta- Cathryn Cui
Like is the fundamental feature of Facebook. I would start this question by first confirming that the interviewer only wants to measure success of Like feature used in Facebook application(mobile, web etc.) and not the ability to include Facebook Like button in social components in websites. That is one of the big ways in which Facebook Likes is used in collecting data throughout the web.
Let us assume that this question is only for the Facebook Like feature in the Facebook applications.
What is Facebook Like? – It is the most important way of user expression in Facebook to denote the user’s engagement with a post/entity on Facebook
Success of Facebook Likes is based on the user adoption of using this feature and continuing to express in the platform. Therefore, engagement metrics are the cornerstone for this features success. Some of them are as follows –
Direct Feature Engagement Metrics due to Like
a. Number of Likes/User or Brand/Day
b. Number of comments, shares per post
Indirect User Engagement Metrics to track
c. Number of 1:1 communications as a result of a Like
d. Number of new connections or recommendations generated as a result of a Like
e. Number of followers as a result of a Like
f. Number of group conversations and Increase in engagement due to Like
Platform Metrics – Likes increases Posts , Articles, User and Brand popularity which in turn drives recommendations and better engagement for customers. Likes also helps Facebook with data point about user interest and therefore better ads to be served. Some example metrics are as follows –
g. Time Spent by the user in the application
h. Number of Ads/user
i. Ads Click through rate
Metrics Prioritization – The metrics prioritization is based on metrics which drive direct engagement, indirect engagement and finally business and platform metric improvement. Therefore the order would be – a, b, c, d, i, g, e, f, h
@Marie Hamilton,On the success metrics of the “Like” feature you mentioned above, I would directly provide feedback.
1. Adoption: Adoption is very obviously not the metric that Facebook’s Like feature aims to shift. It is moved, as you mentioned, and is only a result of a feature’s indirect impacts. To better understand, let’s pose the question backwards: Would you implement the “Like” function if I were asked to “formulate the strategy to increase the number of subscribers to the business page”?
2. Engagement: Yes, the Like feature will move the engagement metrics; however, it will not move like the way you said – If I have liked a post, I have spent more time than the person who has not liked the post. The “average time spent” metric, not the engagement meter, is used to measure the amount of time spent using the app.
A feature like this will boost user engagement since businesses gauge user involvement by looking at their varied actions. A “like” option would make interacting with the content effortless for users. It will boost engagement.
3. Monetization: This is beyond my understanding. Someday, it might have characteristics similar to monetization, but it isn’t the main or dominant mover.
4. Retention: You have the wrong impression about what retention is. When users return to the app more quickly than they did previously, retention does rise. Let’s comprehend this: You will log in to Facebook on Monday and Thursday, twice a day. Would you check into Facebook more than twice a day now that the Like option has been introduced? It, in my opinion, implies that a characteristic has no direct bearing on retention. Facebook’s notification system, however, has the ability to change the retention measure.
Hope you might agree to these.