MySpace opens up more to developers

Social Networking site MySpace is introducing tools for developing games, media-sharing features and other programs that better integrate with the Internet's leading social-networking site.

Similar to what rival Facebook did last year, which opens its platform to developers, a move that has proven to be a boon for music-sharing start-up iLike.com, photo-sharing service Slide and countless other companies. Those applications, in turn, have helped make Facebook even more popular, although it still ranks as the second most trafficked social network behind News Corp.'s MySpace.

MySpace will formally launch the MySpace Developer Platform next Tuesday with a kickoff event and workshop at its new San Francisco office. Although developers will have all the tools they need to create and test programs, they won't be able to integrate them right away. MySpace has yet to announce a start date for that.

The company said the program should result in innovations in how friends connect and communicate.