Stories Public Comments
Design of public commenting experience to foster meaningful feedback, boost engagement, and improve content quality
Analysis & Research
Strategy
Design
Delivery
My role as Senior Product Designer:
I was the designer in Stories Feedback Systems, in a small team of Stories designers. I owned the feedback layer, and partnered with stakeholders from research through delivery.
Stories was Meta’s fastest‑growing format. Every reply went into a DM and stopped there.
DMs were too much commitment, and there was nothing public. Engagement and creator retention were both slipping.
Producers lacked meaningful feedback
Privacy constraints limited behavioral insights.
I led a cross‑functional workshop to unpack the problem and align on hypotheses
We explored root causes, mapped impact, and debated risks. Then synthesized a clear path forward
What are potential types of visible feedback?
Who’s impacted?
Does a public comment change what producers are willing to post?
Will people use comments?
Overwhelming support for comments as a lightweight, public complement to DMs
This led to our hypothesis
A lightweight, public comment layer will give viewers a “middle‑ground” feedback tool.
More than a silent view, less than a DM, boosting creator engagement and repeat visits.
I mapped every touch‑point from Home tray to light-weight reactions / private messages and designed several concepts. Here are the ones we tested:
Home tray
Consumer view
Light reactions
or
Private message
Side‑by‑side pill (Test C) delivered the clearest entry and improved interface usage
Test A
Expandable drawer with commenting options
Result
Difficult to navigate
Test B
Comment entry point below private messaging
Result
Consumers find value in leaving and reading comments
Risk
Content covered by interface could impact experience
Test C
Comment entry point side by side private messaging
Result
Improved interface usage
Risk
Private messages decline due to a shift toward comments
Test D
Reduced entry point for commenting
Result
Slight improvement on private messaging usage
Risk
No segmentation of user’s preferences, low discoverability
After locking the MVP pill, I audited every surface to ensure a coherent experience and add an intro card that sets expectations and builds trust
Self view
Viewer sheet
Home tray
Introduction
Consumer view
Comments sheet
What Shipped
↑ .3 %
Story views
↑ .2 %
Core sessions
11 M
Daily comments
Small regression. Commenting may slightly discourage producers from creating repetitive media.
Cost to messenger. Story replies which don’t lead to back-and-forth messaging are shifting to comments, likely worth less than a feed comment.
Complexity. Introducing comments to Stories makes the product more complex for consumers and producers.
What challenged me
AX requirement changes
Misaligned collaboration workflow
What I’m taking forward
Future of stories comments
Further mitigation of risks and trade-offs
What I’m proud of
Improved team cadence and collaboration
Design AX improvements
Thank you.
Stories Public Comments
Design of public commenting experience to foster meaningful feedback, boost engagement, and improve content quality
Analysis & Research
Strategy
Design
Delivery
My role as Senior Product Designer:
I was the designer in Stories Feedback Systems, in a small team of Stories designers. I owned the feedback layer, and partnered with stakeholders from research through delivery.
Stories was Meta’s fastest‑growing format. Every reply went into a DM and stopped there.
DMs were too much commitment, and there was nothing public. Engagement and creator retention were both slipping.
Producers lacked meaningful feedback
Privacy constraints limited behavioral insights.
I led a cross‑functional workshop to unpack the problem and align on hypotheses
We explored root causes, mapped impact, and debated risks. Then synthesized a clear path forward
What are potential types of visible feedback?
Who’s impacted?
Does a public comment change what producers are willing to post?
Will people use comments?
Overwhelming support for comments as a lightweight, public complement to DMs
This led to our hypothesis
A lightweight, public comment layer will give viewers a “middle‑ground” feedback tool.
More than a silent view, less than a DM, boosting creator engagement and repeat visits.
I mapped every touch‑point from Home tray to light-weight reactions / private messages and designed several concepts. Here are the ones we tested:
Home tray
Consumer view
Light reactions
or
Private message
Side‑by‑side pill (Test C) delivered the clearest entry and improved interface usage
Test A
Expandable drawer with commenting options
Result
Difficult to navigate
Test B
Comment entry point below private messaging
Result
Consumers find value in leaving and reading comments
Risk
Content covered by interface could impact experience
Test C
Comment entry point side by side private messaging
Result
Improved interface usage
Risk
Private messages decline due to a shift toward comments
Test D
Reduced entry point for commenting
Result
Slight improvement on private messaging usage
Risk
No segmentation of user’s preferences, low discoverability
After locking the MVP pill, I audited every surface to ensure a coherent experience and add an intro card that sets expectations and builds trust
Self view
Viewer sheet
Home tray
Introduction
Consumer view
Comments sheet
What Shipped
↑ .3 %
Story views
↑ .2 %
Core sessions
11 M
Daily comments
Cost to messenger. Story replies which don’t lead to back-and-forth messaging are shifting to comments,likely worth less than a feed comment.
Small regression. Commenting may slightly discourage producers from creating repetitive media.
Complexity. Introducing comments to Stories makes the product more complex for consumers and producers.
What challenged me
AX requirement changes
Misaligned collaboration workflow
What I’m taking forward
Future of stories comments
Further mitigation of risks and trade-offs
What I’m proud of
Improved team cadence and collaboration
Design AX improvements
Thank you.