SOCIAL INTERACTIONS CONTROL
A globally launched ad control that extended Facebook’s ‘Social Interaction’ transparency to Instagram, allowing users to manage who sees their brand page likes alongside ads.
PROJECT TYPE
Product Design
CONTRIBUTION
UI/UX Design Lead
YEAR
2024
COMPANY
Meta
OVERVIEW
When a user likes a brand’s page on Facebook that is running an ad, Facebook may notify their friends when they see the same ad—this is known as a ‘Social Interaction.’ At the time, users could only disable this transparency feature on Facebook, with no equivalent control available for Instagram. My team was tasked with expanding this control to Instagram and integrating it into ‘Accounts Center,’ Meta’s central hub for managing user settings across its family of apps.
PROBLEM
A user’s digital profile reflects their personality, and in some cases, they may not want their friends to see their interactions with certain brands. Instagram, known for its high engagement with e-commerce advertisers, required a scalable control within ‘Accounts Center’ that would allow users to manage their Facebook and Instagram settings from a single interface. Additionally, we needed to future-proof the control for potential expansion to platforms like WhatsApp and Threads. Adding to the complexity, a cohort of users without access to ‘Accounts Center’ still needed a way to manage this setting, requiring a parallel solution to ensure consistency and accessibility.
CHALLENGE
Leveraged existing design components to minimize screen usage while ensuring scalability for future platform expansion, all while adhering to policy standards, compliance, and defensibility.
PATH TO ALIGNMENT
Securing alignment at Meta requires navigating multiple approval stages across many teams. First, Instagram and Facebook design teams must agree on the user flow and design component implementation. Next, both privacy teams review content and assess risks. Finally, approval from design leads and PM partners is needed to unblock engineering for development.
IDEATION
Rapid ideation enabled us to map out four different flows, pinpointing pain points and reducing cognitive load.
Flow 1
Pros
These surfaces give space to explain how this works
It solves the problem of scalability
Cons
Adds an unnecessary surface
The user will have to go back and forth to see the status of each account
Flow 2
Pros
Contains the experience to a single page flow
Quick profile access view bottom sheet
Cons
Unclear as to what I need to do
Very text heavy and confusing
Flow 3
Pros
Less copy and less intimidating
Each profile now has a status making it clearer
Cons
Adds back the unnecessary surface
Redundant and excessive
FINAL USER FLOW
Pros
The user journey is now more clear
Leveraging the bottom sheet gives the user a strong sense of place
Cons
Still an overwhelming amount of copy
It solves the problem of scalability but by scrolling
SOLUTION
To successfully launch this control, I engaged in weekly meetings with legal partners to ensure compliance and defensibility while simultaneously collaborating with Instagram teams to integrate the control using the appropriate internal components, architecture, and placement. Additionally, I worked closely with engineering teams through dogfooding sessions and one-on-one meetings to conduct quality control and ensure an optimal user experience.
POST-LAUNCH RESULTS
+0.41%
Proxy ads score, reducing cost for advertisers
+0.52%
A&A ad score improving ad quality for users
-33KW
Reduction of server usage marking a major capacity optimization