I was browsing through content on Instagram and had an idea that could result in improved user experience, increased user engagement, and decreased churn. Over the weekend, I dove in and built a prototype using Adobe XD and ProtoPie. Here's more about the project:
Observation (Browsing Content Categories):
Currently, to browse through categories on Instagram, a user can horizontally scroll through the category listed at the top of the interface. The scroll bar shows three categories at a time. The user can also navigate to the next or previous category on the scroll bar by swiping to the left or right on the feed, respectively.
Problem Hypothesis:
Because it requires more swipes to get to categories at the end of the scroll bar, users interact with the categories at the end of the list less than the categories that are listed at the beginning of the list. As a result, Instagram's content recommendation engine bases its recommendations on a less-representative sample pool of data and presents the user with content that doesn't span the full spectrum of the user's interests. If the user receives homogenous recommendations and does not want to make multiple swipes to the right of the categories bar, the user will have an unsatisfactory user experience and is more likely to leave the app, which causes Instagram to experience less engagement and more churn.
Solution Hypothesis:
If a user were to see more categories in fewer swipes, the user would explore more categories. With the user selecting content from more categories, Instagram's content recommendation engine would base its recommendations on a broader sample pool of data and present the user with his/her preferred content, faster and with more accuracy. If the user finds his/her preferred content faster, the user will have a better search experience, and Instagram will experience more engagement and less churn.
Solution Prototype:
The following concept allows Instagram users to see all of the categories at once with one single swipe. If the user pulls the category scrollbar downward, the horizontal scrollbar expands into a grid containing all categories appears. When a category is selected from the grid, the grid collapses into the horizontal scrollbar, with the selected category underlined and on the left hand side.
Expanded Search Functionality
Here is an example of how this category pull-down concept fits into the Instagram user's search workflow.
Note: Of course, this is merely a hypothesis, and its accuracy/success is predicated on actual data and user testing!
