Last month, our own Glynnis MacNicol wondered “Um, Who Is Running Sarah Palin’s Social Media Dept.?” noting that the feisty polician may very well deserve the “Internet crown” — “That is if her new media staff can get their act together!” But it’s clear the potential was there, and that’s why we’ve kept our eyes peeled, bracing for her triumphant return.

And it seems that the release of her memoir Going Rogue is just what she needed to catalyze her itchy blogging fingers. It’s sort of like when your boyfriend broke up with you and you realized “I should really be using my Tumblr more!” It’s purposeful and it’s therapeutic.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Palin’s publicity team has been making deliberate gains in the online arena:

Among the features of this new strategy: buying Internet advertising based on Google searches of her name, and using Facebook as a key means of communicating with voters. Her team also has considered filing libel suits against bloggers who spread rumors about her family.

Bloggers beware! But as Gawker’s Foster Kamer noted Saturday, sometimes the keyboard-reliant fight back, as with the Atlantic‘s Andrew Sullivan, who the Journal piece singles out as a sworn enemy of Ex-Gov. “Ms. Palin considered pursuing a libel suit against at least one blogger,” the Journal states, only to have Sullivan shoot back:

Sources with access to Palin have indeed told to me that the Wasilla whack-job was an obsessive reader of this blog as it dared to ask factual questions about her past that could be easily answered.

Gawker’s take? “[H]e basically goes for the jugular while victory dancing on her face.”

Palin is, of course, also using that old hat “traditional media” to push her tome — Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters and all, or so we’ve heard. But when it comes to the world wide web — that’s where Palin deserves a newspaper feature aimed at old people!

A page on Facebook, the social-networking Web site, became Ms. Palin’s main sounding board. Nearly one million people have “friended” her. The page is accessible to people who aren’t Facebook members.

Wait until the Sarah Palin 2012 “iPhone” app.

That is if her new media staff (should they exist in plural) can get their act together! Palin has reportedly just signed up for a LinkedIn account — the social media-ish website for your work life — and has posted her resume there. The hitch? Her LinkedIn profile is registered under ‘governorsarahpalin.’ As most people in the Western World are aware, Palin quit being governor in July. So what’s the deal? Seems Palin and her staff weren’t quick enough off the draw: as Gawker points out SarahPalin has already been nabbed by someone who is using the account to make fun of the former Gov. It’s unclear whether LinkedIn has a similar rule to Twitter which forbids fake accounts (hence the creation of the “verifed” label), but even so, shouldn’t someone have thought ahead?

This is not the first time Palin has run into the sort of problem with her name domain. As we noted back in July when we tried to discern where Palin would next land in the Twitterverse, many of her options had already been scooped up by others. Perhaps this was the motivation to encouraged her turn to Facebook. Anyway, while she’s in the branching out mood perhaps Palin might consider staking claim on a SarahPalin YouTube channel and then, you know, perhaps begin the infiltration of her own Gawker hash tag.

Last state twitter. Thank you Alaska! I love you. God bless Alaska. God bless the U.S.A.
about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry

This fond farewell was preceded by a number tweets, that after a little deciphering appeared to be describing Palin & family’s camping trip which would end in yesterday’s handover ceremony. Prior to that she was spending considerable time discussing laws she was rushing to sign and trumpeting the failure of ethics complaints that had been lodged against her.

Needless to say Sarah Palin is a Twitter must-read. In fact, if broken down and read as tweets her speeches make slightly more sense. However! The question remains: where can we find the Tweeting Bard of Wasilla from this day forward? It’s still unclear.

When Palin first announced her resignation a few weeks ago she noted that once out of office she would continue to Twitter but from a new account, and in a less politically correct voice. With this in mind, after yesterday’s spectacular good-bye, we had a look around. Where is Sarah tweeting? The most logical handle, @SarahPalin, has already been claimed by a woman of the same name who appears to be having some second thoughts about occupying the domain:

Didn’t release so many people would tweet to the wrong Sarah. Dumb idea I guess, took the name cause I was amazed it wasn’t gone. #hindsight

This Sarah Palin, who hails form St. Paul, MN according to her profile, has only updated four times, her first time being four days ago. Which, means, among other things, that Sarah Palin’s new media team (presuming she has one?) is not so on top of things. How one wishes The Onion had got there first.

Other options could include @AKSarahPalin, a sort of logical continuation of the handle she just dropped, and a quick way to keep her Alaska identity in the fore while she makes the rounds of the lower 48. @AKSarahPalin is currently protected and has no followers nor updates. We are keeping a sharp eye.

There is also @palin2012 and @sarahpalin2012, neither of which boast much activity or followers. That said, one imagines it’s just a matter of time! Palin may consistently bemoan the intrusion of the media (also, “these delicate, tiny, very talented, celebrity starlets“!) but it’s hard to imagine her going quietly into the good Alaskan night. Sarah, your Tweetdom awaits!