Jan - Nov 2023
Content designer
Contents:
01 - Browsing tabs in IAB
01 | Browsing tabs in IAB
Challenge
Meta’s in-app browser (or IAB) lets users explore and discover external web content without leaving the app they’re currently using. Whenever a user opens a link in Facebook, Instagram or Messenger, they’ll be directed to IAB.
When I joined the Resilient Ads Experience team, they were preparing to launch a browsing history feature designed keep a record of links a user had visited within the last 30 days. The goal was to help users save and revisit content they’d previously shown interest in.
But the success of this project introduced a new question – what happens if a user wants to keep their content open in an active browsing session? I joined a project team tasked with solving this challenge.
My approach
- Collaborated with PD, PM and UXR to define requirements, goals and success metrics
- Workshopped and socialized the product story, messaging strategy and core value proposition alongside PM
- Led workshops and research to name the new feature and define related terminology
- Partnered with PD and UXR to conduct competitive analysis of standalone browsers (e.g. Safari, Chrome) and similar in-app browsers
- Worked with PD to craft an MVP design and experiment plan
- Created microcopy for new user experience (NUX). Worked with PD and Eng to define interaction logic to encourage user engagement.
Impact & outcomes
After a few weeks of ideation and workshopping, we developed robust vision for the new feature. However, before investing in a fully fleshed out tool, we developed MVP design with limited functionality and launched a live experiment to gauge user engagement with the concept.
The experiment ran successfully for several weeks, validating investment in our long term strategy for the feature. We began planning additional experiments to collect data about user behavior and additional areas of opportunity. We used this data to drive conversations about future iteration.
Before rolling off the project, I worked alongside the product designer to conduct workshops to collect ideas for an MVP+ design to test in the next experiment round.
02 | IAB product recommender
Challenge
A UXR study found that social media users often need to spend multiple browsing sessions considering and comparing products before making a purchase. But unlike standalone browsers (e.g., Chrome) or shopping apps (e.g., Amazon), IAB wasn’t great at support multisession shopping behaviors, like cross discovery or revisitation.
However, shopping is a major use case and revenue-driving function for IAB. So after participating in several workshops and brainstorming sessions, I joined a project team challenged with finding ways to support multisession exploration.
My approach
- Helped conduct ideation workshops to explore potential approaches and define the problem space
- Collaborated with PD, UXR and ML engineers to develop logic for product recommendation ML model
- Led a competitive analysis of product recommendation tools across a range of digital environments (including social media, ecomm, etc)
- Created microcopy for the core experience and error/empty states
- Explored ways to use metadata from product inventory data (ex. price, discount, color, # remaining) to drive user engagement
Outcomes & impact
Our solution was to develop a ML model that suggests similar products from the same advertiser in a product recommendations tool built into ads shown in a users’ feed. The team’s next steps are to test the MVP product to get signal on user engagement with concept. This data will help drive continued investment in the feature and future design iteration.
03 | End-to-end encryption privacy notice
Challenge
The Messenger product team recently rolled out long awaited support for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in chat. In Messenger, like on other Meta apps, links shared in chat open in IAB by default.
UXR studies found that users were relying on this feature for a number of sensitive communication use cases — such as discussing business transactions, political organizing and conducting counseling. And although users remain in Messenger when viewing links, it’s not possible for Meta to ensure that the external site or app they’re visiting will also support E2EE.
The privacy team was concerned that users engaged in sensitive conversations might unintentionally expose their personal information when leaving the unencrypted space. So I joined a cross-functional project team tasked with creating an interstitial message to notify users of this transition and their options.
My approach
- Collaborated with PD audit and analyze notifications in other privacy sensitive environments
- Consulted across a number of legal and privacy stakeholders to understand strict requirements and constraints
- Worked with technical stakeholders to define technical requirements and identify a solution capable of working across all supported platforms (web, android, iOS)
- Worked with PM and PDs to define the logic for where, when and how frequently the privacy notification should be shown
- Created microcopy for new experience. Led workshops and crit/feedback sessions to refine the copy while making sure the design complied with strict requirements
- Worked with engineering to organize dogfooding and make adjustments as solution rolled out
Outcomes & impact
After many rounds of discussion with stakeholders to get everything just right, we aligned on copy that I think is simple, but clearly informs users of the change in environment and their options.
We also gave users the option to change their settings so that links opened from Messenger chat will always open in an external browser (instead of IAB.) Creating this setting was a particularly important option for user privacy, as it allows users to open their links in a private browsing window. I created the accompanying microcopy for this option in the user settings.
