Set goals for Facebook Stories.

Introduction

Setting goals for Facebook Stories requires a strategic approach that considers user engagement, content creation, and business objectives. To address this product success metrics challenge, I'll follow a structured framework covering core metrics, supporting indicators, and risk factors while considering all key stakeholders.

Step 1

Product Context

Facebook Stories is a feature within the Facebook platform that allows users to share ephemeral content, including photos and short videos, that disappear after 24 hours. It's designed to encourage more frequent, casual sharing among users.

Key stakeholders include:

1. Users: Seeking a fun, low-pressure way to share moments
2. Content creators: Looking for ways to engage their audience
3. Advertisers: Interested in reaching users through a popular format
4. Facebook: Aiming to increase user engagement and time spent on the platform

User flow:

1. Creation: Users capture or upload photos/videos, add filters, stickers, or text
2. Posting: Content is shared to their Stories
3. Viewing: Friends can view the Story for 24 hours
4. Interaction: Viewers can react or reply to Stories

Facebook Stories fits into the company's broader strategy of promoting more personal, ephemeral sharing to complement the News Feed's more permanent content. It also helps Facebook compete with platforms like Snapchat and Instagram (which Facebook owns) in the short-form, disappearing content space.

Compared to competitors, Facebook Stories has the advantage of being integrated into the world's largest social network, but faces challenges in user adoption and engagement compared to more youth-oriented platforms.

Product Lifecycle Stage: Growth phase. While Stories has been established on Facebook for a few years, there's still significant room for user adoption and feature expansion.