---
title: "Building a developer economy around Intercom - The Intercom Blog"
description: "The post compares building a developer ecosystem to creating a new country’s economy, requiring infrastructure, fair rules, and an efficient marketplace for trade. It cites a 2015 Deloitte report estimating Facebook’s 2014 platform effect at $29 billion and 660,000 jobs created by companies like King and BlaBlaCar, noting Facebook Platform launched in 2007. Intercom released its first developer APIs in June 2014 and has since added webhooks, OAuth, Bulk APIs, and SDKs for Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, Node, and Cordova. The company introduced new developer guidelines that emphasize innovation opportunities rather than restrictions, and built a new developer hub to simplify building integrations and apps. Intercom is exploring a marketplace to connect developers with customers who use Intercom, and over 50 integrations have been built; developers can join the Developer Program to get listed."
---

# Building a developer economy around Intercom - The Intercom Blog

[Intercom](https://yomu.fyi/company/intercom) · Oct 9, 2026

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

The post compares building a developer ecosystem to creating a new country’s economy, requiring infrastructure, fair rules, and an efficient marketplace for trade. It cites a 2015 Deloitte report estimating Facebook’s 2014 platform effect at $29 billion and 660,000 jobs created by companies like King and BlaBlaCar, noting Facebook Platform launched in 2007. Intercom released its first developer APIs in June 2014 and has since added webhooks, OAuth, Bulk APIs, and SDKs for Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, Node, and Cordova. The company introduced new developer guidelines that emphasize innovation opportunities rather than restrictions, and built a new developer hub to simplify building integrations and apps. Intercom is exploring a marketplace to connect developers with customers who use Intercom, and over 50 integrations have been built; developers can join the Developer Program to get listed.

## Context

Intercom’s blog post from December 2015 explaining the company’s strategy to build a developer ecosystem around its customer communication platform, using the analogy of creating a new country’s economy and citing Facebook’s platform effect as a model.

## Approach / What changed

Intercom released developer APIs in June 2014, added webhooks, OAuth, Bulk APIs, and SDKs for Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, Node, and Cordova. It created new developer guidelines emphasizing innovation opportunities rather than restrictions and built a developer hub. It is exploring a marketplace to connect developers with customers.

## Takeaways

- Facebook’s 2014 platform effect was estimated at $29 billion and created 660,000 jobs globally, according to a 2015 Deloitte report.
- Intercom released its first developer APIs in June 2014 and has since added webhooks, OAuth, Bulk APIs, and SDKs for Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, Node, and Cordova.
- Intercom’s new developer guidelines focus on innovation opportunities rather than restrictions, and the company is exploring a marketplace for integrations.

## FAQ

### What is the platform effect?

The platform effect refers to the economic impact of third-party apps and services built on a platform. A 2015 Deloitte report estimated Facebook's 2014 platform effect at $29 billion and 660,000 jobs created globally.

### What developer tools does Intercom provide?

Intercom provides APIs, webhooks, OAuth, Bulk APIs, and SDKs for Ruby, PHP, Go, Java, Node, and Cordova. It also built a developer hub to simplify building integrations and apps.

### How many integrations have been built on Intercom?

Over 50 integrations have been built between Intercom and other products and services. The company is exploring a marketplace to connect developers with customers.

**Tags:** [API](https://yomu.fyi/topic/api), [Developer Experience](https://yomu.fyi/topic/developer-experience), [Marketplace](https://yomu.fyi/topic/marketplace), [Platform](https://yomu.fyi/topic/platform)

- Source: [Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/blog/building-a-developer-economy-around-intercom)
- Source URL: https://www.intercom.com/blog/building-a-developer-economy-around-intercom
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-09T12:01:17.201Z

[Read original post](https://www.intercom.com/blog/building-a-developer-economy-around-intercom)