Social network behemoth Facebook is opening its first East Coast office in New York.

Not Boston.

Which drew radically different coverage in the local dailies.

From the Boston Globe’s Business Daily Briefing:

NEW YORK – Facebook will open an engineering center in New York City early next year, its first such office outside the West Coast, the social network giant said yesterday.

Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg joined elected officials for the announcement at Facebook’s New York office on Madison Avenue. Sandberg would not say how many people Facebook would hire in New York, only that the company plans to add “thousands’’ worldwide in coming years.

Sandberg said the company will stay in its current location at Bank of America Plaza for the time being.

Facebook’s New York office currently focuses on advertising. The engineers are based in Palo Alto, Calif., and Seattle.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who follows social networking companies, said Facebook’s reason for opening an engineering office in the city might have to do with wanting to be close to New York industries like finance or music.

From the Boston Herald’s business pages:

YANKEES’ ZUCK

Facebook CEO picks New York for East outpost

Facebook is setting up its first East Coast office in New York City, just weeks after CEO Mark Zuckerberg returned to his Harvard roots and teased the tech community with visions of a Hub outpost.

It’s another win for the Evil Empire in the tech rivalry with Boston.

Really, is there anything more pathetic than the Evil Empire shtick?

Interestingly, the dead-tree edition of the Herald features a “staff photo illustration” of Zuckerberg with a Yankees cap on his head, while the web edition features him without it.

What really Zucks, though, is the Herald’s website, which crashes more often than a NASCAR driver.

Get it together, Sciacca.