Twitter set to launch tools for app developers

Microblogging site Twitter is likely to announce a number of tools at a conference Wednesday to make it easier for programmers to build apps, according to media reports.

Developers were irked a couple of years back about the strict rules in existence wth regard to applications, which plug into the social media service. The current move is seen as a damage control measure from Twitter

"It is about relationship-building. If you start by offering services that are globally interesting to mobile developers and not just ones that are interested in traditional Twitter data, you can build a better relationship with more developers and introduce more of them to Twitter by delivering them value right away," Ryan Sarver, Twitter's former director of platform was quoted as saying in The Wall Street Journal.

According to the report, the services will be offered through a new app development platform called Fabric.

The services are likely to address common issues that affect mobile developers in general, such as dealing with bugs, tracking analytics and making money.

The tools will include offerings from Crashlytics, a Boston-based mobile crash reporting tool that Twitter acquired in 2013.

The conference is taking place at an arena near Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco and likely to draw about 1,000 programmers from around the world.

Twitter has over 274 million active users as of July 2014.