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Adam Mosseri

Head of Instagram, Meta · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

executiveoperator@mosseri ↗LinkedIn ↗Wikipedia ↗Instagram ↗

Adam Mosseri has served as the Head of Instagram since October 2018, overseeing its business functions, engineering, and product operations. He previously spent a decade at Facebook, where he worked as a product designer and led the News Feed team.

43statements → 18claims → 8claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.91/5average certainty → 2.14/5average debate potential → 4.4/5argument clarity · the sources → 10said about them ↓

6 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 9 not checkable as stated how the 18 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

3 predictions · 15 assertions · 7 opinions · 8 insights · 9 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 18 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 8 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 9 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Adam argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Facebook's Safety Team Was Larger Than Instagram's Total Headcount
“The safety and integrity work, we were running too much of our own stuff and not leveraging the much larger teams at Facebook and in the central teams. I think there were more engineers that worked on safety and integrity at the company at the time that then w…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 16:39 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
75% certainty 3
100% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.4 / 5 directness 4.7 · coherence 4.7 · precision 4 · compression 3.9

redirected or did not address 2 of 40 assessed questions (5%). Watch them ▸

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

264 words/min while actually speaking · 14.7 um and uh per 1k words · 12.3 false starts per 1k · 32.3% of pauses land inside a clause

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 14,209 words across 1 episode of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 5/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 2/10
setup questions received 55%

Everything Adam Mosseri said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Feed Is Only the Third Most Important Instagram Surface for Teens
“If you look at how teens spend their time on Instagram, they spend more time in DMs than they do in stories, and they spend more time in stories than they do in feed. Yet people think of Instagram as a feed, and it's the third most important Surfers at best. M…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 21:35 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Instagram Prioritizes Young People and Creators Above All Other Segments
“And for us, we care about young people, and we care about creators most.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 25:19 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Partly supported
Adam Mosseri Claims Instagram Is Growing Faster Than Any Major Competitor
“We're growing really fast. I think we're growing the fastest of the big players.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 33:50 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
TikTok Is the Most Well-Executing Competitor Meta Has Ever Faced
“They're, I think they still are the most well-executing competitor I think we've ever faced. There's a couple others that are up there, but they're, I think, at the top of that.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 34:59 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Meta Adopts Competitor-Pioneered Formats When They Become Industry Standards
“I think we're very good at optimizing things, and I think that we are willing to, when somebody pioneers a new format, to go and adopt that format if we think it's going to become an industry standard.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 36:12 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Video Is Good for Time Spent but Bad for Revenue
“Yeah, and so the thing that I think people don't always realize is video, by its nature as a format, is actually really challenging for all the old social networks. It puts a lot of downward pressure on the ads business, because if you watch one video for 10 s…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 46:36 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Threads Launch Targeted Fashion, Music, and Sports Over News or Tech
“We weren't going after tech, we weren't going after news, we weren't going after politics. We were focused on musicians. We're focused on fashion. We're focused on athletes. We're focused on beauty”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 51:34 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Meta Did Not Pay Influencers or Celebrities to Join Threads
“No. We talked about it, but no.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 52:08 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Directly Paying Every Creator Destroys a Social Platform's Business Model
“You can't just pay everybody who's a creator, because if there's tens of millions of creators, that just adds up to money that's going to just completely destroy your business model. So you have to figure out ways to give them tools to make money, in my opinio…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 59:03 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
TikTok Creator Payouts Are Unpredictable Lottery Checks Compared to YouTube
“If you're kind of getting these lottery-type checks, I think it gets much more harder to plan. I think that's a common complaint I've heard about how TikTok's payments compare to YouTube's payments, for instance, which are much more predictable.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 59:56 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
BeReal Has Struggled to Expand Beyond Initial Viral Attention
“I think it's a really powerful mechanic. I think it's it was an amazing moment. I think it was, like, incredibly culturally relevant. I think when that, when you have that explosive growth like that, that you just focus a hundred percent on just keeping the li…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 1:26:00 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Mosseri Reallocated Instagram's Entire Stories Team to Messaging
“Actually, at one point, a couple years ago, I think I put the entire stories team on messaging.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 23:16 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instagram Users Share More Media in DMs Than Feed or Stories
“If you take out all the text, there are more photos and videos shared in DMs than there are shared in stories. And there's way more shared in stories than there is in feed.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 0:10 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Only One in Eight Meta Employees Reads Leadership's Internal Posts
“We make a post Internally, and one out of eight employees reads it, and we move on with our lives, and we're surprised when the whole company doesn't move along with us”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 7:39 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Market Success Drives Team Morale More Than Internal Communication
“Over the long run, the thing that's going to get people the most rallied, the most excited, the most motivated, the most effective is doing good work and being successful.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 15:40 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Supported
Facebook's Safety Team Was Larger Than Instagram's Total Headcount
“The safety and integrity work, we were running too much of our own stuff and not leveraging the much larger teams at Facebook and in the central teams. I think there were more engineers that worked on safety and integrity at the company at the time that then w…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 16:39 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instagram's Five-Year Growth Was Driven Entirely by Stories and DMs
“All of the growth has been in, in stories and in DMs over the last five years or so. And to the degree there is growth in feed, it's all in video, it's not in photos in a lot of ways.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 21:19 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Instagram Notes Drove Significant Teen Engagement Despite Low Adult Adoption
“Notes are, you know, basically aim status, but better looking at the top of the inbox. Anybody above 20, like, doesn't use them very much. Unbelievable how much they've moved Instagram engagement overall, app level engagement for teens.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 24:13 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Simplicity in Product Design Is Not Always the Best Choice
“But I think to say it's always better is a mistake. I think of simplicity as a means to an end, and you have to be clear about what that end is. Maybe it's usability, maybe it's broad appeal, but I think that it's possible. There are instances where a more com…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 27:08 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Adam Mosseri Admits the Instagram App Is Currently Too Complicated
“The app is too complicated. I mean, let's be serious. They are, the, I think it's gotten more simple over the last 12 months or so. We consolidated some of the design patterns and primitives, removed some of the tabs, but we still have more to do.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 27:38 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Partly supported
Reels Is Approaching 50% of Total Time Spent on Instagram
“Reels is, I don't know, maybe pushing 50% of time spent in the app at this point. Not quite there.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 30:58 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
What-if
Threads Would Not Have Succeeded Without Instagram Graph Bootstrapping
“And I think that's, it is no way it would have been as successful if you had to bootstrap the graph from scratch.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 45:12 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Prior Facebook and Instagram Video Products Hurt User Connection
“And so the fact that video, growing video has massively grown sends, which is a pure friend-to-friend interaction, even not even, even if you take out the real shares, because they start conversation, I might send you a funny, you know, football clip, and then…”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 47:26 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Held up
Threads Launch in Europe Is at Least Many Months Away
“Months, many months, minimum.”
Adam Mosseri Jul 24, 2023 ▶ 1:01:54 Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Show 19statements(19 left)

The other half of the tape: Adam Mosseri's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 9 times in 4 episodes on 20VC. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 6Alex Schultz 3

Statements about Adam Mosseri, by other people (1)

Opinion
Dash: Video feeds inherently constrain ad inventory compared to text feeds
“Yeah, look, I think Adam is right in that that dynamic generally exists with feed oriented products.”
Suchit Dash Sep 13, 2023 ▶ 53:49 Suchit Dash: Scaling Dubsmash to 43M Users, Battling TikTok & Joining Reddit | E1060 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Every mention by year

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Adam Mosseri: Why Video Is Bad For Business; Does Feed Matter Anymore? | E1039 · 20VC with Jul 24, 2023 1h 4m
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