BehavioralStrategy.com teaching pack v1.0
Author: Jason Hreha
Source file: education/instagram-decision.md
License for original text: CC BY 4.0. External sources retain their rights.
Editable text copy; Markdown headings and tables are retained.

# Instagram: Choose the Next Behavior

> **Your decision:** Which action should a small product team prioritize, and what must it learn before committing further?

Use this public case to practice [behavior selection](https://behavioralstrategy.com/methodology/choose-target-behavior/). Produce a short decision record using the [workbook](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/) or a blank page. Allow about 20 minutes as a teaching estimate.

This is an original teaching reconstruction set in **2010, before the team committed to its focused product**. The exact decision date is not established by the sources. The account below comes from later testimony, not a recovered planning document. If you recognize the company, set aside what you know happened next.

## The evidence available for this exercise

In a talk on **11 May 2011**, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger described Burbn as venue check-ins with pictures or videos. They recalled particular enthusiasm for images and difficulty explaining Burbn to people outside their friends. These are founder recollections. [Evidence BS-0080; see source-notes.txt]

The inspected record provides no raw feature-use distribution, comparable completion rates, or representative sample of potential users. You cannot fill those gaps with the later company's size.

**Your role is an instructor-created scenario:** advise the team on its next product and research commitment. Your objective is to help a defined group share something meaningful with an intended audience, with a credible path to repeated use. You may narrow that group, challenge the objective, or recommend a test before selecting a product direction. Explain the consequence of your choice.

## Compare actions before choosing features

The following options are teaching constructions, not a historical shortlist. Improve or replace them if they do not serve your objective.

| Candidate | Action to examine | Question the choice creates |
|---|---|---|
| Place first | A person checks into a venue and adds information for other people. | Does sharing the place serve an aim that arises often enough? |
| Photo first | A person chooses a phone photo and makes it available to an intended audience. | Who wants to share, with whom, and at what moment? |
| Audience first | A person opens a collection of other people's photos and responds to something relevant. | Where will the useful material come from, and why will contributors supply it? |
| Less new work | A person shares through a destination they already use, with preparation or transfer work handled by the product. | Can the team create value without asking the person to establish another network? |

The last option may change the route to an action rather than the action itself. State which user steps disappear and which move to the product. A feature such as a filter is a possible means of helping someone act; it is not a complete target behavior.

## Make your decision

### 1. Define and compare your candidates

Use [workbook step 2](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/#step-2). For each candidate, name the person, the situation, the observable action, its completion point and the competing action. Include an option that requires less new work from the user.

Choose an initial priority. Distinguish a priority for **investigation** from a commitment to **build or launch**. A candidate can deserve a test without having demonstrated [Behavior Market Fit](https://behavioralstrategy.com/glossary/behavior-market-fit/).

### 2. Separate evidence from interpretation

Use [workbook step 4](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/#step-4) to record:

- One source-backed observation relevant to your choice.
- One interpretation you are making from it.
- One important unknown.
- One finding that would move a different candidate above your current choice.

Do not invent a numerical ranking to make incomplete evidence appear precise. If you use fit categories, label them as your hypotheses and explain what would test them.

### 3. Follow the whole action

Draw the chain with [workbook step 3](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/#step-3). Include what the user, the product and any recipient must do. Mark the step most likely to fail and distinguish a person's skill from the conditions that permit the action.

For example, knowing how to select a photo does not ensure that a usable connection or an appropriate audience is available. If your route requires assistance, say whether the service could keep providing it.

### 4. Specify the next observation

Use [workbook step 5](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/#step-5). State who you would observe, in which real situation, using which working route or existing alternative. Define what counts as exposure, an attempt and completion. Identify any help the test supplies.

Add a repeat-opportunity rule: how will you distinguish “did not return” from “had no relevant occasion to act again”? Keep unknown observations visible. Do not claim that a demonstration or a statement of interest answers every question about repeated use.

## Write the record you would take to a meeting

Complete these fields using [workbook step 8](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/decision-workbook/#step-8):

| Field | Your response |
|---|---|
| Objective and population | What useful outcome, for whom? |
| Selected action | Who does what, when, and how do you recognize completion? |
| Strongest alternative | Why is it still credible? |
| Evidence and unknown | What supports the choice, and what could reverse it? |
| Next commitment | What work do you recommend now, and what remains unapproved? |
| Decision rule | Which observation leads to continuing, changing or stopping that work? |

Check that your proposed feature serves the action you selected. Also check whether your test could fail: if every possible observation leads to building the same product, it cannot resolve your decision.

## Source chronology

| Event described | Public record | Evidence role |
|---|---|---|
| Burbn development and the 2010 product decision | [Founders' Stanford talk, 11 May 2011](https://stvp.stanford.edu/av/stanford-startup-entire-talk) | Retrospective first-person account; no underlying usage table supplied. |

Source checked **5 September 2026**. The linked talk includes later history. This packet separates the decision task from the outcome; it cannot prevent a reader from looking ahead. Neither the source nor this exercise establishes that the founders used DRIVE, BMF or BFA.

Once your record is written, open the [Instagram worked decision](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/instagram-worked-decision/) to compare the reasoning and see the historical outcome.

*Original teaching material by Jason Hreha, version 1.0, licensed CC BY 4.0. External sources retain their own terms. See [teaching notes and reuse guidance](https://behavioralstrategy.com/education/teaching-notes/).*
