Make Notifications Great Again— Lessons from Instagram

This is my 2nd post in the series of notification design. You can find the other parts here: Part 1, Part 3

Instagram — arguably Facebook’s best return on investment till date. Purchased for US$1bn in cash and stock in 2012, and it also has grown tremendously since then.

Initially it was just a photo sharing app with some filters. In the recent times, there have been new features introduced to the app (essentially after Snapchat rejected Facebook’s offer) while some old (I LOVED PHOTO MAPS!😞💔) features were killed as well.

However, amidst all this overhaul of going from a filtered-photo sharing app to Snapchat and Periscope competitor, one amazing thing which Instagram seems to have got right is their notification game. Being a regular user since 2011 [cross promoting my Instagram HERE 😇], I am noting down some of the compelling notifying tactics implemented which, in my opinion, have improved the overall experience of the product.

To start off, there are some standard notifications which you can expect it to send you.

• When you get a ‘like’ on your post.
• When you get a comment on your post.
• When someone tags you in their post.
• When someone messages you directly.
• When you have a new follower.

All these conditions are taken care of perfectly as expected. However, the distinctive feature of the app is how it targets users through the other set of notifications. I would like to call them the ‘Feel Goods’ since that is exactly what they do.

Feel Goods

It is quite evident by this time that one of the prime reason people interact with a social network is to share the interesting stories about their life with their connections. When a connection notices this shared story is when the conversation starts.

With respect to Instagram, the various ways in which a viewing person can interact would be —

• An acknowledgement of viewing it.
• A like.
• A comment about their thoughts on that particular post.
• A share with other people in their network.

It is proven by research that positive interactions on social media do trigger a dopamine high. Thus, through its notification channel, Instagram tries to target this exact behavior in a very smart way.

1. Posting a picture after long time [Or for the first time]

When you post a picture after a long time, Instagram sends out a special notification to your followers mentioning that you have posted after a long time.

For the receiver of this notification, it is as important as a direct message. Also, if that person is someone who I know personally, it is more likely that I would click on the notification and see that particular post and react to it. This is an added reason for me to visit the app since there would surely be something special if my friend, who wasn’t posting anything for a while, has taken the effort to post it.

If you are the person who has posted the picture, there is a higher probability of your followers viewing it and liking/commenting on it. As a user who posts after a long time and experiences that the post has received multiple interactions, it is that dopamine high which it tries to trigger for you. This positive feedback would drive you to interacting with the app and posting more often.

The behavior it drives would be the same for a notification which goes out when you post your first picture on Instagram. Though you might have lesser number of followers who would potentially interact with your post at that point, it is still more likely to get you views and make you feel better to start off interacting more frequently with the app.

2. Posting the first story

Stories — Instagram’s response to Snapchat’s feature with the exact same name which works the exact same way, just without the face filters as of now.

Instagram sends notifications to your followers when you post a story for the first time. A story post disappears after 24hrs and it makes an even more compelling reason to interact with that notification to check out what has been posted on the story.

For the person posting a story, there is a higher probability of views for their first post and it motivates them to post more often and thus engaging with this feature regularly.

3. Live video notifications

Trying to take on the Twitter owned Periscope, live videos are another recent Instagram thing where you can live stream your camera feed to your followers.

If the picture and story posts make a compelling interaction with the app, live videos drive it even more since these live videos are available for viewing only in their ‘live’ form. There is no way to access a person’s live video once their live-stream has ended.

Add to this the celebrities on the platform with millions of followers who can start a live video and their followers would join in to catch a glimpse of their lives.

Takeaways

Notifications should always be meaningful. Notifications are a channel to reach out to your user directly. They are the interactions that your product has with your user and if these are not meaningful enough, your user won’t require them at all.

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