Aboard the Goodship Zuckerberg

Fast on the heels of the hype, The New York Times Co. has joined the new Facebook Ads system, which allows users to learn about New York Times, Boston Globe and the Times Company’s Regional Media Group content through word-of-mouth referrals from friends, according to MediaBuyerPlanner.

The NYTimes.com’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/nytimes) goes live today and will allow users to interact and affiliate with The Times in the same way they interact with other user profiles.

Users can sign on to the page as fans and consume top news, most emailed articles, video and The New York Times News Quiz. They can then share information about The Times with friends and recommend articles or a video, for example.

The Boston.com page also goes live today, as does one of the Times Company’s Regional Media Group pages (Gatorsports.com/facebook).

"We expect our business profile page on Facebook and the 'Beacon' opt-in feature to position our content as top of mind among new and existing readers alike," says Vivian Schiller, senior vp and general manager of NYTimes.com.

The Beacon function enables users to decide if they want to share activities from other sites on Facebook, among friends.

Beacon users via Facebook can, for example, share their ratings of travel venues featured on NYTimes.com.