Social networking giant MySpace today made a renewed attempt to catch rival Facebook by announcing new resources designed to encourage third party developers to write applications for the site.

The MySpace Developer Platform features a developer team blog, a forum space and three sets of APIs. These include OpenSocial with MySpace extensions to enable javascript and html, and Rest for server to server communication, according to the firm.

As of today there will be a one month period during which developers can build, test and install their software in a live environment without their apps being visible to the community.

"We are committed to lowering the barrier to entry for developers around the world to build a more collaborative and dynamic Internet, while empowering our members to take control of their online presence in new and exciting ways,” said MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe in a statement.