8thBridge and The Nerdery are among 232 companies from 35 countries that have received the designation from Facebook.
Two Twin Cities Web development firms have been selected for Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer Program—a designation that recognizes innovative developers that use Facebook for marketing campaigns.
The Nerdery and 8thBridge, Inc., both of which are based in Minneapolis, said in separate announcements late last week that they were selected by Facebook following an extensive application review process, which involved submitting numerous examples of work that exemplified their capabilities within the social media platform.
The selected companies have “clearly demonstrated unique capabilities that help marketers scale and achieve efficiency, and extend measurably beyond the functionality of Facebook’s native tools,” Facebook wrote on its website.
Dan Krueger, software project manager at The Nerdery, told Twin Cities Business in a Monday phone interview that the designation indicates that the firm is “considered by Facebook to be the best of the best.”
Preferred marketing developers are granted access to information about new Facebook features before they are released to the public, Krueger said. They also have exclusive access to a team of experts at Facebook, and they can communicate and collaborate with other preferred developers from around the world.
“And it gives us credibility in the land of Facebook,” Krueger explained. “Lots of people can throw together a Facebook app,” but the designation means that The Nerdery is “on the cutting edge” of development and up to date on Facebook’s changing platform and policies.
8thBridge has worked with a variety of clients to help them monetize their Facebook presence. In late 2011, the company unveiled the “Delta Away We Go” app, which allows Delta Air Lines customers to plan and book a group trip—all within the Facebook platform. In January, the company launched an app for Ticketmaster that allows people to purchase tickets through Facebook.
“We are pleased that we have been recognized by the Facebook [Preferred Marketing Developer] team as a developer that has demonstrated an ongoing high standard of excellence and innovation in the social commerce space,” Wade Gerten, founder and CEO of 8thBridge, said in a statement.
The Nerdery has also created a variety of Facebook apps, including Purina One’s “Bowl for Bowl” app. When users play games and complete surveys, Purina One donates bowls of food to animal shelters. The Nerdery has developed apps for EA Sports, Tampico, and Kraft Foods, as well.
Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer Program includes four different categories: page management, ad management, insights (which includes analytics), and app development. Both 8thBridge and The Nerdery were recognized in the app development category.
A total of 141 companies were added to Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer Program last week. The program now comprises 232 firms from 35 countries, and 8thBridge and The Nerdery are the only firms from Minnesota in the program. To see the entire list of Facebook’s preferred marketing developers, click here.
—Jake Anderson
(janderson@tcbmag.com)