New Facebook platform industry hires: Vitrue, TBG Digital, Wildfire

Vitrue, TBG Digital and Wildfire hired account, search and social and business development personnel this week.

If your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email mail (at) insidefacebook (dot) com, and we’ll get it into our next post. Also, please note that information about most new hires, below, comes either from the companies themselves or from company updates from LinkedIn.

Looking for new opportunities? Check out the Inside Network Job Board, which shows the latest openings at leading companies in the industry.

Here is this week’s list of hires:

Vitrue

TBG Digital

Wildfire

Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry.

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New Facebook Platform Industry Hires: Kontagent, Wildfire, Vitrue and More

Kontagent looks to have hired a Director of EMEA Business Development as Wildfire hired a few more account managers, Vitrue and AdParlo hired some technical staff and a few other companies hired other employees. If your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email mail (at) insidefacebook (dot) com, and we’ll get it into next week’s post. Also, please note that information about most new hires, below, comes directly from company updates from LinkedIn.

Looking for new opportunities? Check out the Inside Network Job Board, which shows the latest openings at leading companies in the industry.

Here’s this week’s list of hires:

Kontagent

Mark Stranger, Director EMEA Business Development – formerly an independent consultant to Mindscape UK Ltd.

Wildfire

Clara Caruthers, Customer Experience Specialist – previously a student.Alex Theumer, Project Manager – formerly a General Manager at Art’s Cyclery.

Vitrue

Andrew Oliner, Software Engineer – previously an IT Specialist at Elgia, Inc.

AdParlor

Shawn Berney, Software Developer – formerly an application developer at MUNDO Media.

Nanigans

Nicholas Barrameda, Advertising Operations Analyst – formerly a sales and merchandising intern at Shanghai Silk Group Co.

Buddy Media

Macrina Aivazian, Project Manager – formerly the Show Coordinator at CCK Events, LLC.

Work4 Labs

Hongyi Li, Business Development & Strategy Intern – formerly a fundraiser at Cal Calling Center.

Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry.

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Page Management Industry Interest in Ecommerce Grows as Vitrue Partners with Milyoni

Page management platform developer Vitrue recently announced a partnership with ecommerce app developer Milyoni. The alliance will bring improved shopping and Facebook Credits payment functionality to Page tabs apps available in Vitrue’s app suite.

The partnership continues the growing trend of consolidation between the Page management and ecommerce spaces as brands demand ways to drive direct return on their social media investment. Below, Vitrue CEO Reggie Bradford tells us why the partnership primes his company to sign the next wave of brands joining Facebook.

Over the last few years, brands have concentrated on gaining Likes, but now they’re looking to monetize these fans. This has increased demand for ecommerce apps that permit fans to make purchases without the added friction of being directed away from Facebook to a traditional company website.

Page management companies, previously more focused on publishing, engagement apps, and analytics are now looking for ecommerce partnership and acquisition targets, in lieu of trying to build things they’re less familiar with.

Milyoni is a strong choice for Vitrue, as the San Francisco-based ecommerce developer has been behind some highly innovative Facebook commerce campaigns this year. It powered the movie rental app used by Warner Bros to sell temporary access to The Dark Knight, Inception and other films in exchange for Facebook Credits. It also allowed the Austin City Limits music festival to charge users Credits to stream pay-per-view concerts.

Milyoni raised a $3 million Series A round from ATA ventures and Thomvest Ventures in May to improve its social commerce products. The company has over 50 brands representing over 60 million fans, including the NBA, the clothing label French Connection, and beverage brand Guayaki.

The partnership will strengthen Vitrue’s offering allowing it to attract clients. Vitrue CEO Reggie Bradford tells us Milyoni’s technology will enable it to offer social shopping tab apps such as “flash sales and group discounts” as well as a “full shopping experience within Facebook.” Milyoni will gain distribution to a large set of clients, including some of the world’s biggest brands such as AT&T, Ford, Proctor & Gamble, and McDonalds.

Vitrue has been a major driver of consolidation recently, in part thanks to a $17 million funding round closed in May which helped provide money for acquisitions and partnerships. It bought GamesThatGive so its client Pages can offering games where user’s earn money for charity through their engagement. Last year it partnered with Ads API tool and service provider TBG Digital, sharing clients looking for each other’s advertising or Page management solutions.

Bradford tells us that in the coming year, “you’re going to see substantial consolidation”. He believes this will be centered around Page management companies “as their relationship with brands becomes a key component of a brand or agency’s plan to manage social. Once you have the Page management relationship, you can roll out new features such as commerce, games, Sponsored Stories” by partnering with or acquiring those that develop them.

Virtue’s goal now is to grow through consolidation to offer a ”turnkey solution”. Bradford predicts that “every major brand is going to be using one of these platforms by 2012. Those platforms in the lead now are going to have 100s and 1000s more marketers using their platform.” The partnership with Miyoni for ecommerce is a strong step in this direction.

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New Facebook Platform Industry Hires: Efficient Frontier, Involver, Vitrue, Wildfire and More

A variety of Facebook platform companies hired everything from interns to sales to operations to engineers this week. If your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email mail (at) insidefacebook (dot) com, and we’ll get it into next week’s post. Also, please note that information about most new hires, below, comes directly from company updates from LinkedIn.

Looking for new opportunities? Check out the Inside Network Job Board, which shows the latest openings at leading companies in the industry.

Here’s this week’s list of hires:

Efficient Frontier

Charlene Fernandez, Sales Executive – previously a student at London Metropolitan University.Guanghong Yang, Senior Software Engineer – formerly worked as a Software Engineer at The Fanfare Group.

Involver

Yagnik Khanna, Web Developer/Programmer Intern – studied at University of Waterloo.

Kontagent

Cindy Lee, Lead UI/Visual Designer – formerly worked a similar position at Cisco.

Nanigans

Robin Botto, Ad Ops Manager – formerly the Director of Account Management at Avenue100 Media Solutions.

Spruce Media

Kelsey Elliott, Ad Delivery Manager – formerly a freelance writer at The Chefs Director and a Director of Marketing at A Daily Apple.

Syncapse

Andrew McGrath, Senior Program Manager - formerly performed a simliar job at Hostopia.

TBG Digital

Wladyslaw Mettler, Python Developer at TBG Digital - formerly performed a similar job at Jamkit.Kenny Skelton, Client Service Director - formerly worked as Direct Channel Sales and Marketing Manager at Vodafone.

Vitrue

Kevin Race, Senior Client Delivery Manager – formerly worked as a Project Manager at Trivantis.Sarah Vabulas, Strategic Services Analyst - formerly a Social Media and Public Relations Coordinator at The Maximus Group.

Wildfire

Robert Williams, Inside Sales – formerly performed similar work at Confluence Media, Inc.

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New Facebook Platform Industry Hires: AdParlor, Buddy Media, Context Optional, Involver, Kontagent, Vitrue and More

There were hires all around this week, from business development to interns, on our new weekly post covering hires among non-gaming companies on the Facebook platform. In particular Buddy Media hired a Director of Business Development and General Manager of Lifestyle brands. Nanigans hired a Vice President of Client Partnerships, TBD Digital hired a Managing Director of France and two VPs of Business Development and Vitrue hired a General Counsel, as well as a Director of Business Development.

If your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email mail (at) insidefacebook (dot) com, and we’ll get it into next week’s post. Also, please note that information about most new hires, below, comes directly from company updates from LinkedIn.

Looking for new opportunities? Check out the Inside Network Job Board, which shows the latest openings at leading companies in the industry.

Here’s this week’s list of hires:

AdParlor

Sarah Watson, Account Manager – formerly an Intern Marketing Coordinator at T Magazine.Dustin Keller, Designer – previously a Web/Graphic Designer at SteadyRain.Prashanth Mohan, Account Manager – formerly the Development Manager at Management and Economics Students’ Association.Vitaly Pecherskiy, Account Manager – previously a Financial and Research Analyst at Oriyon Corporation.

BranchOut

Christopher Henty, Marketing Associate – formerly at Project Manager, Recruitment Chair at Cornell Business Review.Andrea Kalsow, Marketing Associate – previously a Teaching Assistant at Saddleback Valley Unified School District.Emma Markley, Marketing Associate – formerly an Intern at Makena Capital.Michael DeVerna, Product Manager (Virals/Analytics) - formerly Director of Products at Pagefad.John Petroff, Marketing Associate

Buddy Media

Stephanie Sprangers, Vice President of Strategic Brand Accounts - formerly Vice President of Business Development at InterMundo media.David Dowd, General Manager of Lifestyle Brands - formerly the CEO/Founder of ViewPlay Media, LLC.Drew Stern, Director of Business Development – formerly a Senior Manager of New Product Development at American Express.Rebecca Bonell, Manager of Client Loyalty Team - previously an office Manager & Executive Assistant at Lead Financial Group.Jamar Parris, Senior Engineer – previously a Vice President, Application Architect at BNY Mellon.John Friese, Front End Engineer -formerly a Graphic Designer/Production Support professional at Sign-a-Rama.

Context Optional

Grahame Lesh, Comunity Genius – formerly the Marketing Manager at Tripping International.Belen Torres-Gil, Account Manager - previously a Program Coordinator at Stanford University.

Involver

Richard Rich, Sales Executive – formerly the Director of Marketing at Webtab, Inc.Jed Wheeler, SML Trainer & Developer – previously the Founder & Editor in Chief at Vallejo Free Press.Adam Steinharter, Recruiter - formerly a Contract Recruiter at Adchemy.

Kontagent

Ryan Tankoos, Enterprise Sales Executive EMEA – formerly a Business Development Manager at Global Collect.Taehoon Kang, Software Engineering – formerly did the same work at Soompi Media, LLC.Justin Hypes, Business Development – previously Director of Business Development at MSDonline.Art Santos, Business Development – formerly at Senior Director of Business Development at heyzap.com.Dave Paola, Software Engineer - formerly a Software Developer at the Department of Civil/Environmental Engineering.

Nanigans

John Dobrowolski, Vice President of Client Partnerships – formerly the VP and Brand Alchemist at SCVNGR.Ron Searls, Ad Operations Manager – previously a Software Developer at Incipient.

Spruce Media

Jason Leveille, Software Engineering – formerly Lead Developer at Blue Atlas Interactive.Scott Bain, Director of Advertising Delivery -previously the Mobile Marketing Manager at Neverblue.

TBG Digital

Ben Miles, Senior Account Manager – previously a Key Account Manager at Shopping.com.Ed Cox, Client Services Manager – formerly a Digital Media Analyst at Fairbrother Lenz Eley.Bruno Vannod, Managing Director France – previously a Solution Sales Specialists Director at Microsoft Advertising France.Mike Lee, Vice President of Business Development – formerly an Agency Development Manager at Yahoo.Chris Phenner, Vice President of Business Development – formerly EVP of Business Development at Thumbplay, Inc.

Vitrue

Michael Rideout, Director, Business Development – previously President and Founder at Rideout Media Group, LLC.Harris Troutman, General Counsel – previously a partner at FSB FisherBroyles, LLP.Amy Barbieri, Mid-Market Sales – previously a feature producer for Jezebel Magazine/Modern Luxury Media.Eric Schwertzel, Business Development – New York City, previously Vice President of Business Development at Netbiscuits.Kevin Race, Senior Project Manager – formerly a Project Manager at Trivantis.Erika Admundson, Strategic Services Manager - once a Marketing Strategist at MKTG Inc.

Work4 Labs

Libby Te, Office Administrator at Work4Labs – previously a program leader at YMCA.Vincent Vo, Business Development & Strategy Intern

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New Facebook Platform Industry Hires: Wildfire, Vitrue, BranchOut, Brighter Option and More

Among the top hires this week among platform companies on Facebook, professional networking application BranchOut lured Chris Merritt away from his position as vice president of global advertiser partnerships at Yahoo. Similarly, ad software provider Brighter Option brought on Randall Lloyd from his previous post as senior vice president of sales at Rock You.

If your company is hiring new people or making a notable promotion, please let us know. Email mail (at) insidefacebook (dot) com, and we’ll get it into next week’s post. Also, please note that information about most new hires, below, comes directly from company updates from LinkedIn.

Looking for new opportunities? Check out the Inside Network Job Board, which shows the latest openings at leading companies in the industry.

Here’s this week’s list of hires:

BranchOut

Chris Merritt, VP of Sales and General Manager of Enterprise Products – Now with BranchOut, just left Yahoo as VP of global advertiser partnerships.Dan Arkind, Advisor - Now with BranchOut, co-founder of JobScore and previously a recruitment consultant/coach at Indico Group.

Brighter Option

Randall Lloyd, Managing Director of North America – Now with Brighter Option and formerly senior VP of sales at Rock You.

Wildfire

Noah Weissman, Social Media Marketing Strategist - Now at Wildfire, also co-founder of Zoku & Juice, and formerly an account manager at Faktura Media Agency.Tom Logan, Sales Associate - Working at Wildfire, previously worked as a government relations intern with Del Monte Foods.Scott Hagedorn, Senior Account Executive – Now at Wildfire, last worked as a business development director at Meltwater Group.

Vitrue

Christian Rauh, Product Manager - Now at Vitrue, most recently a manager of international projects and client services at Channel Intelligence.Mikael Kessler, Strategic Services Analyst - At Vitrue, formerly a creative developer at twiredjobs.com.Wesley Barnes, Strategic Services Manager - Now at Vitrue, also CTO/co-founder of aitendant and formerly in program management/software development at Hewlett-Packard.Sarah Vabulas, Strategic Services Analyst – Now working at Vitrue, formerly the social media and public relations coordinator at The Maximus Group.

Work4 Labs

Armando Gallegos, Key Account Executive - Now at Work4 Labs, formerly a key account executive at Yahoo HotJobs and Monster.Kurt Angier, Key Account Executive – previously a key account executive at Yahoo HotJobs.Simon Bouchez, Project Manager Jobs For Me – formerly credit analyst intern at Société Générale (France).

Votigo

James Berry, Director of Product Management – formerly at Yahoo.Jeff Rozic, Director of Marketing – previously worked at Brand Affinity Technologies and Google.Stephanie Pullen, Director of Project Management & Client Services – Now at Votigo, formerly at Isobar and AKQA.Katie White, Account Director - Now with Votigo, frmerly at Martha Stewart/Omnimedia and A&E.Brad Moore, Account Representative – previously worked as retail account manager at Westword Newspaper.

Nanigans

Karen Harris, Consultant - Now at Nanigans, formerly a controller at Incipient, Inc.

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Facebook Roundup: President Obama, Vitrue, Messages, Places, Photos, Events, Causes, Justin Bieber and More

President Obama Meets with Zuckerberg - President Barack Obama made a trip to Silicon Valley this week to meet with leaders in the tech industry, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Vitrue Raises $17 million, Adds Murphy as Senior Advisor – Social media management services provider Vitrue announced a $17 million third round of funding from Scale Venture Partners, Advent Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and Dace Ventures. Facebook’s former vice president of global sales, Mike Murphy, has also joined Vitrue to work as a “senior advisor” with CEO Reggie Bradford.

Facebook Challenges Relationship Status Patent – Facebook has challenged three separate patents that pertain to relationship statuses as they function on a social graph. This comes as the company has broadened its relationship status options, adding “in a civil union” and “in a domestic partnership.”

Facebook Rolls Out New Messages to All Users – Facebook is expanding the new Messages rollout to everyone on Facebook over the new few weeks. We first wrote about Messages in November.

Brothers Samwer Sell Facebook Shares - Marc, Oliver and Alexander Samwer, entrepreneurial German brothers who invested in Facebook in 2008 as part of the company’s $15 billion valuation round with Microsoft, sold their shares recently, according to a local report. Given that Facebook recently raised funding at a reported $50 billion to $60 billion valuation, the brothers, may have made up to four times their investment back.

Places Beats Out Foursquare, Gowalla by Far – MerchantCircle conducted a survey recently to find that 32% of the business social network’s members were using Places, 9% using Foursquare and 6.6% use Groupon.

Facebook’s Pixelcloud is Updated - Facebook’s Engineering team wrote a blog about the redesign of the internal photo sharing service created by employees, Pixelcloud.

Fun Facts About Facebook Photos - Pixable, along with Harvard University researchers, conducted some interesting research about Facebook’s photos. Facebook will have 100 billion photos by this summer, women have twice as many looks/uploads/tags as men, men prefer photos with women they don’t know, women prefer photos with women they know and everyone seems to prefer photos of women in general. Older users and younger users upload about the same amount, but older users are not tagged as often.

Facebook Changes Events Format - Microformats leader Tantek Celik has announced that that Facebook has changed the way it marks up events to add an hCalendar microformat, marking up venues with an hCard, too. Microformats are a set of open data formats built on existing standards that make it easier for users (and machines) to share information across services; in this case, users will be able to more easily export Facebook events to other calendar programs.

Cooliris Receives $9.6M Funding – Cooliris, which allows users to see photos and videos on the web in an easy format, received $9.6 million in Series C funding from several investors, including: DAG Ventures, The Westly Group and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. The company also recently released its LiveShare 1.2 photo sharing app, which allows users to created shared photo streams with their Facebook friends.

Causes Used to Connect with Middle East Activists – Causes wrote a post detailing how its users were able to interact with issues related to Tunisia and Egypt.

Sharing on Facebook Most Lucrative for E-Commerce – ChompOn released data comparing Twitter and Facebook actions. Turns out Facebook Shares are worth more than Likes, which are worth more than tweets, which are worth more than follows on Twitter.

Rosetta Stone Sees Facebook Traffic with Webtrends – Rosetta Stone partnered with Webtrends in order to fine tune its Facebook strategy, resulting in Rosetta Stone being able to cut marketing costs on the platform by $20 per fan with a 10-14% conversion rate. Rosetta Stone now counts a 60% conversion rate at a cost of less than $1.50 per fan, according to a company press release.

Facebook, Justin Bieber, Team Up to End Cyberbullying – Facebook, teen pop star Justin Bieber and MTV’s “A Thin Line” show are partnering to end “digital abuse.” According to a press release, Bieber is asking his fans to post an action to stop such abuse on an MTV map, which will enter them into a sweepstakes. Facebook’s Safety Page figures prominently in the campaign.

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Filed in Advertising, Applications, Business, Development, E-commerce, Facebook, Finance, Government, International, Marketing, Metrics, Mobile, Places, Policy, Politics, Venture Capital, location

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