Facebook has announced the development of a program called FbStart, which will give mobile app developers access to app testing and user research. This is the company’s latest initiative to become a big player in the app market.
About 800 companies have applied for FbStart, and Facebook has accepted approximately 62 percent of the applicants for the program. Businesses that are interested in applying must already have applications that are located in the Apple and Google app stores. The goal of FbStart is to make app developers more aware of Facebook’s presence. For example, many apps now allow users to log into their Facebook account and share their activity on the website.
There are several incentives available to those that apply and receive acceptance into the FbStart program. This is what Facebook has listed on its website for those who want to take advantage of its “Bootstrap Track” offer:
- Access to Facebook Start to Success Program
- Parse credit
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Appmethod app development tool
- Appurify testing suite
- Braintree mobile payment platform
- Desk.com customer support app
- Hootsuite social media monitoring tool
- Proto.io prototyping tool
- UserTesting UX research tool
- Transifex localization platform
- Workable recruitment tool
In total, the incentives are worth about $8,000. However, there is an “Accelerate Track” offer that is valued at about $40,000. Some of the companies that have partnered with Facebook for this initiative include Adobe, Salesforce, SurveyMonkey and UserTesting.
The website stated that it will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis until the program is full. Facebook first announced the FbStart program back in April.
