Let's say you just quit your day job to run for president of the United States in 2012. You already have enormous brand recognition with millions of fans and millions of detractors. You want to stay in the public eye and speak out on "issues" in order promote your brand and differentiate yourself from the competition. For better or worse, people pay attention to everything you say.

The usual way that a presidential candidate would go about this is to make speeches, get on television interviews, write op-ed pieces for the New York Times and the Washington Post. You want to avoid this route, however, because the mainstream press has decided that you are a ditzy airhead with a mean streak. They have decided this because (a) they are a bunch of liberals who don't like what you have to say, or (b) you are a ditzy airhead with a mean streak.

So, what do you do? You want people to listen to you but on your terms. First, you get yourself a new personal Twitter landing and start posting your provocative "opinions" on a platform that reaches more people than the New York Times, Washington Post, and the three network news show combined. Yep, we're talking Facebook as primary source. You don't make the same mistake you did with your resignation speech; this time you find yourself a good political writer who knows policy to write them for you. It's your message and you control it.

Everytime you write something on Facebook, every rightwing blogger in America echoes the message and says how brilliant it is. Every liberal bloggers echoes the message and says how ditzy and airheaded it is.

We usually talk about social media being inherently transparent because it is so difficult for companies and authoritarian organizations to keep a lid on. Palin is using social media as a way to both control and magnify the message. Ditzy, maybe, but kinda brilliant.