Verizon Wireless has launched a Ringback Buddies Facebook application to monetize from the social networking channel.

With ringback tones, people who call a consumer's wireless phone hear music instead of a traditional ring. Ringback Buddies lets customers browse, buy and manage their ringback tones and jukeboxes while on Facebook.

"We've focused a lot of energy on our music platform and we want to continue our leadership role in digital music," said Jennifer Byrne, director of digital media for Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, NJ. "The interest of people passionate about music coupled with the interest of our consumer base in accessing social networks on their mobile phones cause us to look for the intersection of both trends.

"enVIO's platform leverages both and it's a great opportunity for ringback tones in particular, which has been a strong area of growth for us," she said. "A lot of the social networking communities share music preferences, and now we're giving our subscribers the ability to marry their peers' interests and purchasing ringback tones."

Verizon's partner envIO networks has announced that its envIOWorks platform for delivery of social marketing applications over mobile and social networks is now commercially available and deployed.

Ringback Buddies lets consumers view the music their friends like or want, buy those ringback tones, then assign them to their friends so they hear the music they like when they call.

Using Ringback Buddies, customers also will see top 10 lists of tones and jukeboxes available to sample or to buy.

The application allows users to make recommendations to their friends and see their wish lists.

Music lovers can also rate the most popular or undiscovered ringback tones or invite their friends to add Ringback Buddies to their profiles.

When logged on to Facebook, users can search the word "ringback" to find and install the application.

When on Verizon's Facebook page, users click on the "music" tab under Featured Applications to access Ringback Buddies.

Ringback Buddies is delivered using the envIOWorks platform, which is available as a free application on Facebook.

The Facebook Web site claims to have more than 100 million active users.

"We chose to use the Facebook platform because of the social networking and social media aspect, which will drive adoption," Ms. Byrne said. "We could potentially add other social networks as they open up.

There will be a marketing push on the http://www.verizonwireless.com site. Verizon is considering a mobile advertising campaign to support Ringback Buddies as well.

"We've gotten a lot of great feedback from artists and labels, who are excited that there's a better way to market ringback tones," Ms. Byrne said.

Individual ringback tones are available from Verizon Wireless for an annual fee of $1.99, and prices vary for pre-made jukeboxes or groups of ringback tones.

Regardless of the number of ringback tones purchased, a 99-cent monthly subscription applies to customers using ringback tones.

The envIOWorks platform builds social marketplaces around any form of mobile content, integrating with both mobile networks and Internet-based social networks.

The company also powers social features such as microblogging around favorite content or posting wish-lists to friends.

"envIO's vision is to enable social marketing for any form of mobile content, solving the challenge of mobile content discovery and creating a fun experience for users," said Prakash Iyer, co-founder/CEO of envIO networks, Andover, MA.

"envIO has announced its envIOWorks platform today and hopes to reach out to mobile operators and content providers around the world with its message," he said.