Design Instagram Feed

1. Problem Statement

2. Architecture Discussion Map

Use this as one discussion aid, not a single correct answer. Your design should follow from the requirements, scale, and trade-offs you establish.

graph LR
    A["Design Instagram Feed"]
    A --> F1["Feed Generation Push vs Pull / Fan-out"]
    A --> F2["Ranking Algorithms Multi-stage ML Ranking, Engagement Signals"]
    A --> F3["Data Model User, Media, Follows"]
    A --> F4["Caching User Sessions, CDN for images"]
    A --> F5["Pagination Cursor-based"]

3. Key Focus Areas

• 1
  Feed Generation (Push vs Pull / Fan-out)
• 2
  Ranking Algorithms (Multi-stage ML Ranking, Engagement Signals)
• 3
  Data Model (User, Media, Follows)
• 4
  Caching (User Sessions, CDN for images)
• 5
  Pagination (Cursor-based)

4. What the Interviewer Looks For

The interviewer probes these areas, and the report grades the interview against them.

• Requirements and estimation
• Feed generation strategy
• Ranking pipeline
• Data model, caching, and pagination
• Consistency, privacy, and reliability