Summary
In 2019, I led the design for Collaborative Stories, a 0‑to‑1 initiative to counter declining engagement with Facebook Stories. We introduced a way for high‑profile creators to co‑author shared stories around major cultural events like the Golden Globes and Tomorrowland, encouraging both viewing and creation through a mimicry effect. The format was particularly effective for public Pages, driving incremental views. It was tested across nine tentpole cultural events, and several of its patterns were incorporated into the broader Stories design framework.
Problem statement
Stories were launched on both Facebook and Instagram. Although Facebook users consumed Stories at roughly the same rate as Instagram users, they created far fewer. Different teams tackled this problem from various angles; our team hypothesized that increasing Story consumption would eventually lead to more Story creation and a positive engagement flywheel.
My contribution
As the lead designer on the Public Pages team, I helped pitch the idea of using public figures to post more Stories by boosting their reach through pooled audiences. I designed the Facebook experience for users consuming Collaborative Stories, the tools for public figures to co‑author and moderate a single event‑based Story, and the interface for PR managers to create Collaborative Stories and invite participating Pages.
Stories team
Design lead
Researcher
Content strategist
Product Manager
6 Engineers
1 Partnership Manager
Outcome & Impact
view per activated story for public figures involved
More daily views for stories, than initially predicted
new public figure pages started using Facebook stories
We tested Collaborative Stories across nine major, high‑profile tentpole events and saw substantial lifts in public figures’ Story views. For some participants, joining a Collaborative Story increased views by up to 10x relative to their typical performance. This sparked interest from many Pages, including first‑time Facebook Story publishers, who often continued posting regularly even after the event and its visibility boost had passed. Collaborative Stories also drove a meaningful increase in overall Story consumption among Facebook users. In sum, the format helped public figures expand their reach and resonated strongly with audiences.
Facebook users’ experience
The Collaborative Stories experience on Facebook had three key stages: discovery, viewing, and participation (either contributing content or sharing with friends). Because Meta was initially reluctant to mix Stories with standard feed posts on Facebook and Instagram, I created and tested multiple new entry points so users could find active Collaborative Stories from feeds, search, and public figure Pages. For smaller artists, these entry points drove up to a 10x increase in public Story views. They were successful enough to be incorporated into the broader Facebook Stories framework and helped pave the way for integrating Stories and regular posts in News Feed.
Public figures experience
Creating a collaborative story
I tested three different creation flows for Collaborative Stories and chose the one that worked like creating a normal Story. After publishing, public Pages could invite collaborators through simple tagging. It was harder to build, but it was by far the easiest for PR reps to use on tight event schedules.
Moderating collaborative story
I wanted to enable regular Facebook users, especially event attendees, to contribute to Collaborative Stories. I explored several moderation models, and this approach struck the right balance: it let PR managers flexibly sort contributions from both Pages and users without creating an undue moderation burden.
Managing invites
To motivate public Pages to initiate their own Collaborative Stories, I explored and tested several patterns for how invitations should be sent and received. The most successful approach used social proof, verification badges, and follower counts to make it simple to find and validate legitimate Pages to invite. This made it much clearer which invitations were credible, addressing the reality that public Pages are frequently inundated with spam.
Outcomes
Impact
We tested Collaborative Stories across nine major, high‑profile tentpole events and saw substantial lifts in public figures’ Story views. For some participants, joining a Collaborative Story increased views by up to 10x relative to their typical performance. This sparked interest from many Pages, including first‑time Facebook Story publishers, who often continued posting regularly even after the event and its visibility boost had passed. Collaborative Stories also drove a meaningful increase in overall Story consumption among Facebook users. In sum, the format helped public figures expand their reach and resonated strongly with audiences.
Activated pages
Increase in views
Views per story
User research & personal learnings
A key insight from this project was that 97% of Facebook Stories were simply reposts from artists’ Instagram accounts. Although this didn’t require changes to the existing experience, if the project had continued I would have prioritized reducing the overhead of sharing directly from Instagram into Collaborative Stories.
Because PR managers have almost no downtime during live events, tools must be simple, intuitive, and resilient. We offered live support during these moments, but any friction or failure could cause organizers to drop their Story entirely.
Currently viewing
Smart App Promotions
META
Lead
B2B
Ads
Automation
0-1
2019
Playable Ads
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Summary
In 2019, I led the design for Collaborative Stories, a 0‑to‑1 initiative to counter declining engagement with Facebook Stories. We introduced a way for high‑profile creators to co‑author shared stories around major cultural events like the Golden Globes and Tomorrowland, encouraging both viewing and creation through a mimicry effect. The format was particularly effective for public Pages, driving incremental views. It was tested across nine tentpole cultural events, and several of its patterns were incorporated into the broader Stories design framework.
Problem statement
Stories were launched on both Facebook and Instagram. Although Facebook users consumed Stories at roughly the same rate as Instagram users, they created far fewer. Different teams tackled this problem from various angles; our team hypothesized that increasing Story consumption would eventually lead to more Story creation and a positive engagement flywheel.
My contribution
As the lead designer on the Public Pages team, I helped pitch the idea of using public figures to post more Stories by boosting their reach through pooled audiences. I designed the Facebook experience for users consuming Collaborative Stories, the tools for public figures to co‑author and moderate a single event‑based Story, and the interface for PR managers to create Collaborative Stories and invite participating Pages.
Stories team
Design lead
Researcher
Content strategist
Product Manager
6 Engineers
1 Partnership Manager
Outcome & Impact
view per activated story for public figures involved
More daily views for stories, than initially predicted
new public figure pages started using Facebook stories
We tested Collaborative Stories across nine major, high‑profile tentpole events and saw substantial lifts in public figures’ Story views. For some participants, joining a Collaborative Story increased views by up to 10x relative to their typical performance. This sparked interest from many Pages, including first‑time Facebook Story publishers, who often continued posting regularly even after the event and its visibility boost had passed. Collaborative Stories also drove a meaningful increase in overall Story consumption among Facebook users. In sum, the format helped public figures expand their reach and resonated strongly with audiences.
Facebook users’ experience
The Collaborative Stories experience on Facebook had three key stages: discovery, viewing, and participation (either contributing content or sharing with friends). Because Meta was initially reluctant to mix Stories with standard feed posts on Facebook and Instagram, I created and tested multiple new entry points so users could find active Collaborative Stories from feeds, search, and public figure Pages. For smaller artists, these entry points drove up to a 10x increase in public Story views. They were successful enough to be incorporated into the broader Facebook Stories framework and helped pave the way for integrating Stories and regular posts in News Feed.
Public figures experience
Creating a collaborative story
I tested three different creation flows for Collaborative Stories and chose the one that worked like creating a normal Story. After publishing, public Pages could invite collaborators through simple tagging. It was harder to build, but it was by far the easiest for PR reps to use on tight event schedules.
Moderating collaborative story
I wanted to enable regular Facebook users, especially event attendees, to contribute to Collaborative Stories. I explored several moderation models, and this approach struck the right balance: it let PR managers flexibly sort contributions from both Pages and users without creating an undue moderation burden.
Managing invites
To motivate public Pages to initiate their own Collaborative Stories, I explored and tested several patterns for how invitations should be sent and received. The most successful approach used social proof, verification badges, and follower counts to make it simple to find and validate legitimate Pages to invite. This made it much clearer which invitations were credible, addressing the reality that public Pages are frequently inundated with spam.
Outcomes
Impact
We tested Collaborative Stories across nine major, high‑profile tentpole events and saw substantial lifts in public figures’ Story views. For some participants, joining a Collaborative Story increased views by up to 10x relative to their typical performance. This sparked interest from many Pages, including first‑time Facebook Story publishers, who often continued posting regularly even after the event and its visibility boost had passed. Collaborative Stories also drove a meaningful increase in overall Story consumption among Facebook users. In sum, the format helped public figures expand their reach and resonated strongly with audiences.
Activated pages
Increase in views
Views per story
User research & personal learnings
A key insight from this project was that 97% of Facebook Stories were simply reposts from artists’ Instagram accounts. Although this didn’t require changes to the existing experience, if the project had continued I would have prioritized reducing the overhead of sharing directly from Instagram into Collaborative Stories.
Because PR managers have almost no downtime during live events, tools must be simple, intuitive, and resilient. We offered live support during these moments, but any friction or failure could cause organizers to drop their Story entirely.
Currently viewing
Smart App Promotions
META
Lead
B2B
Ads
Automation
0-1
2019
Playable Ads
META
B2C
B2B
Ads
Lead
Mobile
2017
Skype
MICROSOFT
B2C
B2B
Mobile
Experimental
2015
Fire Phone
Amazon
B2C
Mobile
0-1
Experimental
2014
INRIX
INRIX
B2B
B2C
Mobile
0-1
2013
Sales Coaching
Lead
AI
0-1
Sales CRM
2025
Sales Assistant
Lead
AI
0-1
Sales CRM
2024
Customer Authentication
Lead
B2B
B2C
Security
2023
Workforce Automation
Lead
B2B
Big Data
2022
Summary
In 2019, I led the design for Collaborative Stories, a 0‑to‑1 initiative to counter declining engagement with Facebook Stories. We introduced a way for high‑profile creators to co‑author shared stories around major cultural events like the Golden Globes and Tomorrowland, encouraging both viewing and creation through a mimicry effect. The format was particularly effective for public Pages, driving incremental views. It was tested across nine tentpole cultural events, and several of its patterns were incorporated into the broader Stories design framework.
Problem statement
Stories were launched on both Facebook and Instagram. Although Facebook users consumed Stories at roughly the same rate as Instagram users, they created far fewer. Different teams tackled this problem from various angles; our team hypothesized that increasing Story consumption would eventually lead to more Story creation and a positive engagement flywheel.
My contribution
As the lead designer on the Public Pages team, I helped pitch the idea of using public figures to post more Stories by boosting their reach through pooled audiences. I designed the Facebook experience for users consuming Collaborative Stories, the tools for public figures to co‑author and moderate a single event‑based Story, and the interface for PR managers to create Collaborative Stories and invite participating Pages.
Stories team
Design lead
Researcher
Content strategist
Product Manager
6 Engineers
1 Partnership Manager
Outcome & Impact
view per activated story for public figures involved
More daily views for stories, than initially predicted
new public figure pages started using Facebook stories
We tested Collaborative Stories across nine major, high‑profile tentpole events and saw substantial lifts in public figures’ Story views. For some participants, joining a Collaborative Story increased views by up to 10x relative to their typical performance. This sparked interest from many Pages, including first‑time Facebook Story publishers, who often continued posting regularly even after the event and its visibility boost had passed. Collaborative Stories also drove a meaningful increase in overall Story consumption among Facebook users. In sum, the format helped public figures expand their reach and resonated strongly with audiences.
Facebook users’ experience
The Collaborative Stories experience on Facebook had three key stages: discovery, viewing, and participation (either contributing content or sharing with friends). Because Meta was initially reluctant to mix Stories with standard feed posts on Facebook and Instagram, I created and tested multiple new entry points so users could find active Collaborative Stories from feeds, search, and public figure Pages. For smaller artists, these entry points drove up to a 10x increase in public Story views. They were successful enough to be incorporated into the broader Facebook Stories framework and helped pave the way for integrating Stories and regular posts in News Feed.
Public figures experience
Creating a collaborative story
I tested three different creation flows for Collaborative Stories and chose the one that worked like creating a normal Story. After publishing, public Pages could invite collaborators through simple tagging. It was harder to build, but it was by far the easiest for PR reps to use on tight event schedules.
Moderating collaborative story
I wanted to enable regular Facebook users, especially event attendees, to contribute to Collaborative Stories. I explored several moderation models, and this approach struck the right balance: it let PR managers flexibly sort contributions from both Pages and users without creating an undue moderation burden.
Managing invites
To motivate public Pages to initiate their own Collaborative Stories, I explored and tested several patterns for how invitations should be sent and received. The most successful approach used social proof, verification badges, and follower counts to make it simple to find and validate legitimate Pages to invite. This made it much clearer which invitations were credible, addressing the reality that public Pages are frequently inundated with spam.
Outcomes
Impact
We tested Collaborative Stories across nine major, high‑profile tentpole events and saw substantial lifts in public figures’ Story views. For some participants, joining a Collaborative Story increased views by up to 10x relative to their typical performance. This sparked interest from many Pages, including first‑time Facebook Story publishers, who often continued posting regularly even after the event and its visibility boost had passed. Collaborative Stories also drove a meaningful increase in overall Story consumption among Facebook users. In sum, the format helped public figures expand their reach and resonated strongly with audiences.
Activated pages
Increase in views
Views per story
User research & personal learnings
A key insight from this project was that 97% of Facebook Stories were simply reposts from artists’ Instagram accounts. Although this didn’t require changes to the existing experience, if the project had continued I would have prioritized reducing the overhead of sharing directly from Instagram into Collaborative Stories.
Because PR managers have almost no downtime during live events, tools must be simple, intuitive, and resilient. We offered live support during these moments, but any friction or failure could cause organizers to drop their Story entirely.
Currently viewing
Smart App Promotions
META
Lead
B2B
Ads
Automation
0-1
2019
Playable Ads
META
B2C
B2B
Ads
Lead
Mobile
2017
Skype
MICROSOFT
B2C
B2B
Mobile
Experimental
2015
Fire Phone
Amazon
B2C
Mobile
0-1
Experimental
2014
INRIX
INRIX
B2B
B2C
Mobile
0-1
2013
Sales Coaching
Lead
AI
0-1
Sales CRM
2025
Sales Assistant
Lead
AI
0-1
Sales CRM
2024
Customer Authentication
Lead
B2B
B2C
Security
2023
Workforce Automation
Lead
B2B
Big Data
2022