Instagram's Incremental Feature Development Strategy

Instagram initially introduced a simple bookmark button for every post instead of building out numerous features. The button allowed users to save posts to a hidden bookmarks section in their profiles. Six months later, Instagram added the ability to save posts to specific collections named by users. This strategy was successful as 47% of Instagram users had used the bookmark button at least once when the new feature was announced. Instagram chose to incrementally develop features and earn the right to build them, rather than assuming user behavior and immediately competing with platforms like Pinterest.