My foundational research unearthed vital user mental models, highlighted key pain points in the saving and Collections workflows, and, most importantly, identified new opportunities for product growth and new features.

Through my qualitative research (diary study and interviews), I was able to align my cross-functional team (product manager, product designers, researchers, data scientists, product marketing managers, content strategists, engineers) on how the product’s user experience could be better tailored to the motivations, needs, and triggers of saving content on Facebook.

I was also able to present to other teams whose products would be impacted by my research, including the entire Ads research organization. Fortunately, my work had the opportunity to add to the foundational knowledge of Facebook users and influence the work of multiple teams and help improve the Facebook user experience across a variety of products and features.

ABOUT

The Saved & Collections features, which were currently buried in the ‘More’ side menu, were growing to 300 Million MAP (monthly active people/users). The Collections (of saved content) feature had recently been launched internationally, resulting in a huge jump in usage. Despite this immense growth, little was known about why people were saving certain items on Facebook and what people were doing with the Collections they were creating. 

Until my internship began, advertising strategies and product design (like filter options, workflows, and the overall user experience) for Saved & Collections were based on WHAT people were saving: ‘photo’, ‘video’, ‘link’, ‘post’.

METHODOLOGY

Overall Research Goals:

Understand the motivations, needs, and triggers associated with saving content, revisiting saved content, and creating Collections

1. Diary Study

107 participants, 687 entries
Tool: dscout

I wanted to understand why people were saving specific types of content but also a few other things:

• Why people revisited saved content

• Why people created a new Collection from saved content

• What triggered someone to save content? To create a Collection?

• What is the value of creating a Collection over just saving something? 

To answer these questions, I designed and scoped a 2-week diary study:

Sample Size

I collaborated with a data scientist to understand relevant MAP and user metrics. I then decided a sample size of 100+ would answer my research questions while being representative of the wider user base

Recruiting

Mobile FB users, active savers - frequent saving in last 28 days (to ensure sufficient data collection and to explore consistent savers), range in Collections

Execution

Diary study platform: dscout (selected for flexibility, ability for participants to upload photo & video, survey logic, robust data collection capabilities).
Length of study: 2 weeks (decided based on saving frequency of sample)

Activities

Participants submitted an entry each time they saved an item, revisited a saved item, or created a new Collection. They answered uploaded a screenshot of the instance, answered survey questions, and uploaded multiple video responses to short answer prompts

2. Remote 1:1 Interviews

10 participants
Tool: BlueJeans (video chat)

To explore the themes, patterns, and mental models observed in the diary study, I scheduled 1:1 remote interviews with 10 participants from the diary study.

I also used the interviews to discuss and explore product ideas and opportunities that my team had added to the product roadmap.

1.

People save and revisit different types of content with different intentions. They don’t save by ‘label’ (e.g. photo or video). Rather, they save by topic.

2.

Re-engagement and helping people find their saved content can be improved.

3.

The value of Collections needs to be clarified to users. The value of the feature exists but is not immediately clear to new users who FB is trying to convert into active Collections users.

4.

People create Collections that usually fall into 3 conceptual buckets: Mood, Aspiration, and Utility.

5.

FB could give users assistance with organizing their saves into new Collections.