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How to build a product that hooks users — Examples from Instagram, Slack, Airbnb & more

Ben
Bootcamp
Published in
13 min readMar 22, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg looking at you
Ever wonder why Mark bought Instagram/WhatsApp, and built Threads?

Every day, an average Instagram user spends about 30.6 minutes navigating through endless posts. For those with TikTok installed, the number is even higher (and scarier) — Averaging 95 minutes per day.

With TikTok being downloaded more than 4.7 billion times and Instagram more than 3.8 billion times. There’s a high chance that if you accidentally peek at someone’s phone on the metro, you’ll probably find the person interacting with these two apps.

It’s quite scary if you think about it. But have you also thought about why these apps are so popular?

Forming a habit is challenging, and it’s even more challenging to form one for someone else — like your users. Nevertheless, your goal as a product builder is to encourage users to use your product regularly — as normally, the more time a user spends with your product, the more value they receive.

The question is: How can you build a product that fosters habit formation?

People have needs, and companies offer services. If these needs and services intersect, you won’t need to spend millions on advertising or aggressive messaging because users will naturally return again and again. Research scientist Nir Eyal has further validated this by analyzing all…

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Bootcamp
Bootcamp

Published in Bootcamp

From idea to product, one lesson at a time. Bootcamp is a collection of resources and opinion pieces about UX, UI, and Product. To submit your story: https://tinyurl.com/bootspub1

Ben
Ben

Written by Ben

Senior Product Designer at Miro — I write things about PLG, AI and design. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hbshih/

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