UCS503
INTERACTIVE UML EXPLORERUSE CASE / SEQUENCE / CLASS / ACTIVITY / SWIMLANE
Teaching notes
Depth
Social content

Instagram

A social content platform with publishing, communication, advertising, moderation and personalized discovery.

Individual product model with scenario-specific actors and official source notes.
14functional scenarios
25available processes
25use cases in this model
125main flow actions

01 of 14 verified scenario groups

OVERVIEW

Platform Overview

Platform Overview models the goals, variations and supporting behaviour around the complete Instagram platform.

8 main nodes4 alternate or exception paths0 supporting branches
UML ACTIVITY LAYER

Open Shared Public Post or Reel

Main flow, guarded alternatives and supporting work come from the selected use-case specification.

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OFFICIAL EVIDENCE AND SCOPE

What supports this model.

Public product behaviour is shown as fact. Internal services are labelled as teaching models unless the product owner documents them.

official product

Instagram Teen Accounts

Private accounts limit who can see and interact with content. This supports keeping logged-out visitors separate from registered users.

Open official source official engineering

How AI powers Instagram experiences

Instagram uses separate ranking systems for Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels, Search, Suggested Accounts and Notifications.

Open official source course material

Teaching notes

Open the current Notion teaching pack. PDF notes can be attached here when finalized.

Open notes
SYSTEM DESIGN LAYER

How this capability may be implemented.

Conceptual representation based on observable product behaviour and common large-scale architecture. Proprietary internals are not presented as fact.

01

Client and gateway

Receive the request and expose the public boundary.

HTTPS, API gatewayobservable
02

Capability services

Own the platform functions selected in this overview.

service boundariesconceptual
03

Event pipeline

Carry completed state changes to background consumers.

event bus, queueconceptual
04

Data and analytics

Store source state and measure product behaviour.

database, object storage, warehouseconceptual
KNOWLEDGE LABELS

What we know, and what we are modelling.

observable

Visible in the product or directly testable by a user.

documented

Described through public product or platform documentation.

conceptual

A teaching model inferred from observable behaviour and common system design practice.

unknown

The proprietary implementation is not publicly known.

01

Use Case

Who wants what from the system?

02

Sequence

How do participants collaborate over time?

03

Class

Which structures support the messages?

04

Activity

Which choices and parallel paths exist?

DEPTH PROGRESSION

The scenario stays fixed. The model grows.

Switch between Classroom, System Design and Near Exhaustive while keeping the same scenario selected. Actors, use cases, relationships, sequence lifelines and domain classes expand in place.