Last year, Twitter sought to broaden the reach of its software by giving outside developers new tools at its first Flight conference. This year the company will try again, as the pressure on it to grow its user base has only increased.
The event is scheduled to be held on October 21 in San Francisco, Twitter announced Wednesday. An agenda has not yet been released, though attendees can expect new tools for tracking the performance of their apps, and for weaving Twitter content into their apps, which might include Twitter advertising.
Last year, the flagship news at the event was Fabric, a software development kit aimed at helping developers build apps and make money from them. The kit includes tools for crash reporting, embedding Twitter posts, or tracking the effectiveness of ads. There was also a tool released called Digits, which lets users log into apps with a phone number instead of a password.
The show drew hundreds of developers from around the world.
For Flight round two, the stakes are high. The event’s return comes as Twitter continues to face questions over the value of its service, and persistent investor concerns over user growth. Last month, CEO Dick Costolo stepped down; Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey now serves as interim CEO.
Over the past year, Twitter has made changes to its site to make it more accessible to new users. More recently, the company began testing new ways to sell retail items directly on the site. And, the company is preparing to launch a new feature dubbed Project Lightning, that would let users track current events more easily.
At Flight 2015, it’s possible Twitter could release new tools to let outside developers incorporate some of those new Twitter functions into their own apps. The more Twitter is able to disseminate its features and software into outside apps, the better its ability to expand its user base.
