Automattic is announcing a new feature for large-scale sites hosted in WordPress.com VIP SaaS program (TechCrunch is a VIP publisher)—Featured Partners for third-party integrations. Basically, the program allows companies that have integrated their services with the WordPress platform to promote and seamlessly enable their tools for large-scale VIP sites, which account for one billion page views each month.
WordPress.com VIP will vet potential Featured Partners and review their code, to ensure a tight integration with the WordPress.com VIP platform. Chartbeat, ContextLogic, Daylife, Livefyre, MediaPass Subscriptions, Ooyala, SocialFlow, Uppsite and Mobilize with Wibiya are the first to join the program.
While these services could previously work with VIP blogs on an individual basis (i.e. outside of any WordPress.com relationship), the VIP team is now actually reviewing and endorsing these services. WordPress.com is also working to make sure the integrations with these services are seamless for the publisher. With Automattic’s endorsement, these services could be more attractive to a large site.
We’re told there is no category exclusivity for the Featured Partner program. Automattic will continue to add more plugin partners across various services & verticals (mobile, social, video etc.). Currently, WordPress powers 15.8% of the world’s top one million sites, up from 8.5% in 2010.