The President completed a social networking trifecta in July, hosting a Twitter town hall meeting that generated 119,000 #AskObama tweets containing 40,000 unique questions, according to TwitSprout.

The President’s digital communications strategy may focus on balancing activity across several channels, but in the private sector, Facebook, Google and others are waging the battle for social media supremacy.

Migrating, defecting and reflecting
Facebook, Twitter and other networks on the otherwise openly social Web covet a “walled garden” model. Generating the most traffic can likely wield the most influence and yield the most revenue. It’s a successful approach for Facebook with more than 700 million users, most of whom will never feel restricted in a community of such size.

Competition for users is fierce as social media mania settles into normalcy and users can only manage so many profiles. New networks continue to emerge and compete for attention and lucrative market share, defined by impending IPOs and the aforementioned monetization.

Google’s previous attempts to enter the social space with Google Buzz and Google Wave were short lived, but initial hype for its more robust Google+ with Facebook-influenced features like “circles” (groups) and “stream” (newsfeed) has prompted defensive tactics from competitors.

Facebook blocked an exporting tool that allowed users to export contact information to Gmail as well as Google+ related advertisements on its network while Google suspended real-time search that had included Facebook fan page updates and tweets. Facebook also integrated with Skype in what came off as an over-hyped response to the previous week’s Google+ launch mirroring a video chat capability that Google already offered.

Tumblr, the short-form blogging platform, has drawn competitive comparisons with Twitter. In June, former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez declared Tumblr “the next great tool for reports and news organizations.” Likewise, Edelman communications guru Steve Rubel adopted Tumblr after previously using the competing Posterous service. Rubel and Sanchez both admire the blog and social media hybrid that  Tumblr provides, expanding content sharing and curation capabilities beyond Twitter’s 140-character limit.

Of course, these are not the first instances of social media migration. MySpace users defected in droves when Facebook became the social heir apparent.

What do such movements mean for digital communications professionals? Most are not worrisome. Technologies evolve. Communicators must focus on positioning clients where their audience is already, which often means managing presence on several communities.

Keeping abreast of each network’s maneuvers is helpful for counseling clients appropriately, and clear thinking can guide you the rest of the way.

Navigating your way
Committing to social media means managing a network of networks. It’s a heavy workload for big brands and niche players alike. In this column, we’ve evaluated strategies and tools that can help.

• Popularity trumps allegiance. Critical mass is not difficult to identify even when it shifts. Standing out is the real challenge, so focus on message and differentiation matter regardless of location.
• Social networks are evolving and new ones emerge constantly. Evaluating your options is healthy, but when one social network is working for you resist the urge to change it.
• Technology and complacency don’t mix. Embrace change.

This post also appears as the August “Digital Dialogue” column in the PR Tactics Journal published by the Public Relations Society of America.

I enjoyed following the presidential debate last Friday night… on Twitter. Although the TV was on, it was Twitter that held my attention with a kind of town hall-ish feel.

Thousands of people with at least some interest in McCain or Obama were tweeting their opinions in bursts of 140 characters or less, which generally follows Twitter’s “what are you doing?” premise. The pace of tweets appearing on Twitter’s Election 2008 ‘channel’ was such that you could barely read messages on screen before they scrolled by to make room for others.

This got me thinking about the utility of Twitter in mass appeal scenarios. On Friday, for me, it was mostly a way of polling people’s immediate thoughts. That’s very helpful. But think of the extended impact a more formal use of Twitter with, dare I say, some light moderation could provide.

What if Tom Brokaw chose a couple intelligent questions from Twitter to ask candidates during the second presidential debate in Nashville on October 7th? It is scheduled to follow a town hall format. I’m sure the rules are strict, and they have already been agreed upon by both parties. Perhaps he could get a pulse from twitterers about what they would like answered prior to the debate, if he has that latitude and interest.

A good example of doing just that is CNN’s Rick Sanchez who has recently used Twitter to monitor and ask for viewers’ opinions before doing his broadcasts. Social media expert Brent Leary recently detailed and analyzed this in one of his posts. It’s a good read if you have another minute.

There were some light-hearted moments during Friday’s Twitter debate viewing too. Someone sent a message to @jimlehrer essentially saying “Jim, stop letting McCain run over his allotted response time!” I took this to be intended as comical, although this person could have just as easily meant it. Regardless, monitoring and respecting the ‘vibe’ as a groundswell of tweets occur is a good practice. You can obtain priceless feedback about the topic at hand. (Note: searching on Twitter, it appears the name @jimlehrer is registered but with no updates. Lehrer, or one of his associates, does appear to post updates via @NewsHour.)

I also noticed the “national drinking game” being promoted on many Twitter threads. The rules stated that every time McCain said “my friends” or Obama said “change” you were supposed to take a drink. I didn’t notice either candidate using their buzzwords much though. Perhaps their campaigns did some monitoring of their own and advised each to tone it down, and avoid the embarrassment of elevating the joke.

Whether for amusement or advancing targeted objectives, it is clear that Twitter and other social tools similar to it are gaining critical mass and can help a candidate or organization better convey its message with a sense of immediacy.

To this final point, each campaign is doing a fair job of formally embracing social media. Mashable recently posted a thorough list of each candidate’s various sites and community pages. Take a look and weigh in.