Wash Po Scores Facebook Success

The Washington Post has achieved some 350,000 downloads with its “quick-and-dirty” application for Facebook.

Compass asks ten questions about politics to provide users with a political reading which can be displayed on their pages.

Executive editor Jim Brady has revealed that the application was relatively easy to develop and required few resources.

Brady described the Compass as a “quick-and-dirty application” created to take advantage of the time people spend on the social networking website.

In a video interview with Beet.TV, the Post editor said the tool achieved a high number of downloads “right off the bat”.

He added that the application is particularly useful as it gets the Washington Post brand sitting on Facebook pages.

If you’re interested in tracking the technical development of Compass, Washington Post web programmer Deryck Hodge provides some valuable insights into the process on his blog.