Investigating Instagram Reels DAU Drop

Akanksha’s approach

• identify if we did any change in the position or any new feature has been introduced •if there are feed suggestions thing is not going well • any bug

Anushka’s approach

I'll ask some clarifying questions: What is meant by Reels DAU- is it interacting with one, watching one, opening a reel? Is it sudden or gradual decrease?

Is it for any specific region? Any specific device? Has the #of reels being created declined or showing the users reels on their feed ? Have we made any changes in the algorithm that feeds the users?

Actors involved-- Platform & Users

The change happen from last week, do possibility is that we have made live any app changes which resulted in this.

I will check the whole funnel from start to end : Opens the app-> gets a post/reel on the home page->watches/interacts/ignores -> goes to reels section -> finds the relevant reels -> watches it/interact/share etc

Possible causes: Recent app changes, harmful/sensitive content being shown, any new competitor in the market.

Most likely : App changes that were pushed last week

I'll check the changes and whole flow in multiple devices, will check the before and after changes, how was the data last time and this time

Alfiya’s approach

1. Reinstate the metric that changed - Instagram Reels DAU dropped by 15% last week. Total Instagram app DAU remained flat, confirming that the decline is isolated strictly to the Reels feature.

2. Segment the problem -

• By users: Creators vs. Consumers. Total published Reels dropped by 25%, indicating that creators stopped posting first, which left consumers without fresh content to watch.
• By platform: Android users specifically on the latest app release (v110.0)

1. Possible causes -

• The camera or video editor keeps crashing or stopped working properly after a new update.
• Algorithm changes reducing creator reach and engagement.
• Video upload pipeline failures or backend processing delays.

1. Most likely cause - A code bug in Android v110.0 caused an 800% increase in crashes on the video editing screen, preventing creators from completing and uploading their videos.

2. Validation and fixes -

• Inspect app crash for v110.0 and verify high drop-off rates specifically at the video editing step.
• Halt the v110.0 rollout on the Google Play Store immediately.
• Deploy an urgent hotfix (v110.1) and configure automated crash-rate alerts to pause future rollouts if error thresholds are breached.

LearnProduct’s approach

First Understanding the problem the total number of DAU is reduced by 15% last week. First thing to check is where the DAU is reduced is there any specific area or region, check error report of that feature, checking whether there is only drop in using reels feature or whether there is drop in the reels posted as well, checking where the drop off is occuring.

Sahil’s approach

1. Check on last release version and any identified bugs / issue in the release
2. Any changes in algorithm of the reels suggestion and next reels done in the current version which has led to not so interested reels for the user based on his/her interests which had led to decline in the usage and viewing
3. External factors - Any new app in the market (competitor)
4. Drop in what kind of users i.e. any specific segment (age wise), any particular region (like any state/city/country)

Annanya’s approach

Observed metric change: Instagram Reels DAU declined by 15% last week. Before investigating the cause, I would confirm: How Reels DAU is defined Is it opening Reels, watching a Reel, or interacting with one. Whether the decline is sudden or progressive. Whether overall Instagram DAU also declined or the drop is isolated to Reels. Whether any product release, experiment, ranking update, or external event occurred around the same time.

Key segments to inspect: Geography: Global, country-specific, or regional. Platform: Android, iOS, mobile web, or desktop. User cohort: New, returning, dormant, or highly engaged users. User behaviour: Reels viewers versus Reels creators. Demographics: Age group, language, and market

I would also analyse the Reels consumption funnel: Reels impression → Reels opened → Video loaded → Video watched → Swipe to next Reel → Engagement → Continued session → Return visit

For creators, I would separately inspect: Open creation tool → Upload/record → Edit → Publish → Receive engagement → Create again

Possible causes: Reels activity events are not being captured correctly. A recent app update introduced crashes, freezes, or loading failures. Uploading, editing, publishing, or sharing is broken. Reels are receiving less visibility because of an experiment or UI change. Spam, fake content, negative comments, or harmful content have reduced trust. A major competitor campaign or product update shifted user attention. Network disruptions or regulatory changes affected specific markets.

Most likely root cause: Because the decline is a sharp 15% drop within one week, I would initially prioritize: A tracking or instrumentation issue. A technical regression following a recent release. A Reels ranking, discovery, or distribution change.

A sudden decline is less likely to be caused by users gradually losing interest unless there was a significant external event. Assuming the decline started immediately after a recent app release and is concentrated among users on a specific app version, my leading hypothesis would be: A recent technical update is causing Reels to load slowly, crash, or fail to open, leading fewer users to access the feature.

How I would validate it: Will check the metrics before and after update. Also validate the tracking or analytics changes. Will check the issue across various devices and platforms.

Recommended fix: Roll back the affected app updates. Release a hotfix for the affected app version, device type, or operating system. If the issue is related to tracking : correct the event-tracking logic or dashboard definition. Reconcile client-side events with server-side activity.

Yuvraj’s approach

Observed metric change: Region specific DAU

Key segments to inspect: which country saw decline, user age group, new/old users;

Possible causes: Server Outage, Ban due to minimum age group, Natural calamity, recent updates in features or plans

Most likely root cause: Server outage in a region or ban due to gov policies

How I would validate it: segment users for each region and compare avg vs last week DAU

Recommended fix: Server backup and new policies

Ishant Juyal’s approach

Just like any other RCA, I would start with understanding the drop first.

1. Is this a drop that was sudden or was it a gradual decrease?
2. Is it something that is seasonal or has a pattern of repeating every month or year around the same time?

If not, then we go into further segmentation of the user base.

daily active users = new users who signed up + old users who came back in those weeks.

We'll check the trends separately for new users and old people returning back. If you see a certain pattern between less new user signing up, then we go deeper into that. If the trend is similar for both older and new users, we look at other reasons. We also look at retention cohorts to see if there's any specific cohort that is showing less active users.

We will further segment the user base by the OS - iOS and Android, Region, Country, Referral Source, App version etc.

If there's no indicator of decline in any of the cohorts, we move to external reasons.

Was there a release that happened on that day when the graph started going down? Is there any external factor that could have affected it? Was there any bug that happened?

We then look at customer support tickets, user complaints on social media and other qualitative feedback to find out what could be the issue.

AD’s approach

I would start by asking a few high-leverage clarifying questions to scope where the DAU drop is concentrated: 1.Is the DAU drop concentrated on a specific platform such as Android, iOS, or Web? 2.Which geographies contribute most to this drop? 3.At which stage of the Reels funnel do we see the largest decline? 4.Is the drop higher among new users, existing users, or creators?

Once the problem is scoped, I would analyze the affected funnel stage and form testable hypotheses across key areas such as: Tech / performance, Product or content relevance or External or market factors

I would then validate these hypotheses using relevant metrics, comparing trends before and after the drop, and eliminate hypotheses that are not supported by data. The hypothesis that shows leading indicators occurring before the DAU decline would be identified as the root cause. Finally, I would address the root cause with an immediate fix and put preventive measures in place to avoid recurrence.

Pavlo’s approach

Clarification questions:

• Were there any changes/releases recently?
• Did DAU drop somewhere else?
• Were similar drop patterns observed before (can we tie them to some events, e.g. marketing campaign?)

1. Check what segments are affected the most? Are there any groups of users which contribute more to the drop (age, region)? Check if there is any difference of the metric based on platforms (iOS/Android, tablet/phone).

2. If there were recent releases of new features - check if DAU of reels could flow there. If there were recent updates of Reels (UX/UI, algorithms):

• Check session duration; did it drop as well?
• Is user behaviour changed (e.g. they skip reels more often, go back and force, etc)?
• Were any significant changed in the suggestion algorithms?

1. Check technical issues: crashes, loading time, reconnection, relogin, etc.

2. Did any events happen which could potentially affect the metric, for example:

• Competitors released a new product which attracts similar users
• Some seasonal or sport event is happening, which is being streamed on other platform
• New OS release with strict privacy rules which affect the algorithms or other logic

Based on the data gathered above we can assume which category might cause the drop, then we can continue investigation and go deeper into the specific metrics. We might need to involve someone else to help understand the root cause of the issue, for example engineers can help with technical issues or marketing department can help explain some events.

Preathi’s approach

Clarifying questions: 1. Is it a continuous drop off, or it happened only on last week ? 2. Did we implemented any new feature last week ? 3. Any other product launches happened similar to Instagram reels recently ? 4. Do we facing any negative spread talkings on any social media like twitter or anything ? 5. Is there any increase of customer support tickets last week ? 6. How many support tickets are we receiving related to instagram reels recently ? 7. What is the Issue mostly about which we getting from support tickets ? Is there any new government policies or regulatory has been implemented recently ? Do we facing this issue in any of the specific geographical location ? From which specific target segments do we facing this drop off exactly ? Do received any complaints from specific kind of content in Instagram reels ? Did we changed any UI inside instagram reels specifically ? Did we removed any feature related to instagram reels recently ? Which devices are specifically facing this drop off or all devices ?

Getting clarifying answers for all these questions we could able to find the Root cause of this problem.