I joined Facebook mainly so I could test how it works over Skweezer, even though they already have a mobile interface and no offsite links. To complete the circle, today I created a Skweezer group in Facebook to see if it could be useful, although it’s by no means an official forum. I figure that at some point someone’s going to create a Facebook group about Skweezer, it might as well be one of us.

Do you use Facebook and Skweezer? Join our group and post a note on our wall, or better yet a picture of Skweezer in action. It is extremely gratifying to all of us when we read about how people enjoy using Skweezer, and we’re constantly looking for ways to connect with our users people.

Yesterday some PR went out announcing Advertizer to the world. This is very exciting, especially considering how hard we worked to make this possible.

Currently this blog is hosted on wordpress.com and in order to discourage splogs they've taken a hard stance against JavaScript, which kind of rules out ads for now. However, since wordpress.com and other hosts/systems allow RSS sidebars (like my Google Reader starred items on the right) and text ads are now available via RSS/Atom such as through systems such as Greenlight Wireless' Advertizer, that sort of opens the door, doesn't it? Check out this diagram and notice how #2 looks familiar.

Inserting text ads in syndicated feeds isn't a new idea. So far, every mention I can find of RSS/Atom + Ads in my absolutely non-exhaustive search has to do with embedding ads in existing feeds, such as banner ads at the bottom or interspersing real items with sponsor messages. However, syndication formats like RSS and Atom are the new HTML, and as a delivery mechanism one XML dialect is as good as another as far as I'm concerned.

"When can I sign up?" you ask? We're working on that, believe me. The full text of the PR release follows.

Greenlight Wireless Announces Release of Advertizer
Advertizer provides a turn-key advertising solution for mobile and desktop environments.

IRVINE, Calif., May 8, 2006—Greenlight Wireless Corporation announces the release of Advertizer™, an advertising program for operators, search engines, and publishers who want to monetize their content in the mobile and desktop environments. Advertizer works by retrieving ads based on keywords or other user input from multiple top-tier ad suppliers, then providing a single ad feed that works across diverse distribution channels, such as mobile and desktop. These ads can be provided in a variety of formats, including CPC, location-based, and click-to-call, and can be delivered via commonly-used systems, such as XML, HTML, and RSS. Advertizer offers a 50/50 revenue sharing model and doesn't apply the hidden charges and fees often associated with other ad providers.

Greenlight Wireless has coined the term "converged advertising solution" to describe Advertizer's flexibility regarding ad-matching criteria, ad formats, and delivery systems across both mobile and desktop environments. Advertizer can be paired with Greenlight's Skweezer service to create a compelling solution that optimizes Web content across multiple mobile platforms, while providing relevant, mobile-friendly ads. "As mobile search and Web browsing become widespread, a turn-key converged advertising solution—with a business model—becomes absolutely critical," says Kevin Perkins, Greenlight Wireless CEO. "The combination of Advertizer with Skweezer produces a potent marketing solution, particularly for operators faced with declining revenues from voice services and consumer-purchased content."

Advertizer was originally launched in 2004 as the Skweezer Ad Marketplace (SAM) and is widely recognized as the first globally-consumed mobile ad service, reaching an audience in over 170 countries worldwide since its inception. SAM has been re-branded as Advertizer to make a clear distinction between it and Greenlight's Skweezer service, which focuses on mobile data optimization.

No successful web property is an island. Skweezer could never have been envisioned and built if that were not so. Once upon a time people were pretty upset about what we were doing: building a service that depended on the content of other websites that wasn’t a search engine. Fast forward to 2006: Web 2.0 is all about the community, the web ecosystem, the blogosphere. If we work together, we can do more than we could apart. You can adjust your business model to make money even while giving things away. Viva la network!

Mashups are cool, but when it comes to capitalizing on those interdependencies in a way that pays the bills, people are already thinking about the new business models that support it. Via Programmable Web I found this article on mashup business models and also a link to a discussion about it at Mashup Camp.