Year 2010 was a monumental year for Facebook as it made great inroads into the business user community. And surely, the world’s leading social network couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2011 as one of the biggest names in the publishing industry, Washington Post announced its decisions to launch SocialCode, a subsidiary that will help brands build and monetize their presence on Facebook.

And why am I so excited about it? IMO, this is huge from a business perspective as it bridges the gap between publishing and advertising agencies. I see it as a precedent for convergence between traditional media and digital media.

What is SocialCode?

To put it simple words, SocialCode is a proprietary system built on top of the Facebook ads application programming interface. Of course, WaPo’s real motivation behind this move is to cash in on Facebook’s popularity amongst advertisers and look for an alternative revenue source for its newspaper business contracts.

Facebook’s advertising APIs are public, easy to use and therefore it isn’t surprising that they’ve been adopted by thousands of businesses worldwide. However, Washington Post is surely the big daddy of the publishing world, thereby making this a huge trend-setting move in the publishing/ advertising industry.

Integrated Marketing

I’m often quizzed by business users regarding my thoughts on the social media vs. traditional media advertising war. It’s really not an either/ or proposition and a business needs to combine the two in the best possible way for optimal gains. From your business’ perspective, it opens up new avenues of Integrated Marketing where your campaigns can effectively leverage both print as well as social media.

While I’m not endorsing SocialCode in any way, I believe it’s a timely reminder for businesses that social and print media will ultimately converge sooner than later.

Your Business

While this association is expected to be mutually beneficial for both parties (Facebook and Washington Post), what matters at the end of the day is how they help your business. Unless you are planning to work directly with SocialCode for your next marketing campaign, it really has no direct impact on your business. But as I mentioned earlier, this move is a precedent of how social media and in particular, Facebook will evolve over the next couple of years.

What do you think of SocialCode and its future? Does your business use Facebook advertising? If so, are you going to consider using SocialCode for your future ad campaigns? Please share your opinion by leaving a comment below this post.