Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is certainly giving her Facebook fan page a workout this week, as she nears one million fans.

Using the site to flack her new book, “Going Rogue,” which comes out officially today, it got a big boost from her interview today with Oprah Winfrey, clocking in at close to 995,000 fans last night.

Posts include info on her multipart interview with Barbara Walters, her unhappiness with the recent cover of her in running clothes in Newsweek magazine (“The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now.”) and, of course, how the media were unfairly attacking her.

Interestingly, Palin’s followers for the book in Twitter (#SarahPalinUSA) number a paltry 17,624.

Still, Palin has other Twitter accounts, such as when she was governor of Alaska (153,432), but this is still a very small audience.

(By the way, President Barack Obama is closing in on seven million fans on Facebook and 2.7 million followers on Twitter.)

As the media onslaught gains steam, here is some video of Palin’s television interview on “Oprah” yesterday:

In a genius pairing of subject and artist, here is the best online viral video this week from Conan O’Brien’s “Tonight Show,” featuring actor William Shatner reciting outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s recent farewell speech verbatim.

You simply can’t make this stuff up.

Done in Shatner’s perfect Captain James T. Kirk/”Rocket Man”-style, here is the video from NBC (as well as Shatner interpreting the Elton John-Bernie Taupin hit song, and also my favorite impression of Palin by Tina Fey on “Saturday Night Live”):

Our friends at JibJab whipped up another odd video for us for the Thanksgiving holidays.

It includes some of our staff–the whole staff is here–glad we are not the poor turkey (for more on turkey mishaps, see this horrifying video of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin).

BoomTown is thankful for our great All Things D team, as well as our amazing readers. Also this year, for Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang, without whom there would be no news.

We’ll be publishing more lightly after tonight, but there will be news over the holiday weekend, so keep checking back.

Now, here’s our video:

How much do I love the Internet?

Muchety-much after seeing this interview that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin gave plastered all over the Web, in which the former Republican VP candidate gives a local Anchorage television station an interview as a Thanksgiving turkey is being slaughtered right behind her.

Actually, I cannot exactly tell what the hapless workman is doing to the poor turkey in question, because he keeps coming in an out of the frame, carrying the feathered bird by the feet, not sure if he should be doing whatever he is doing as Palin speaks.

But the worker does leave and then return in the course of the interview and then turns on some funnel-shaped device that seems to shake up the bird in an awful way. Twice!

Still, ever the trouper (and sanguine hunter, it seems), Palin obliviously keeps up the turkey patter, having just “pardoned” another turkey earlier.

Such is fowl fate.

Here’s the video (and, after seeing it, tofu might look more palatable on Thursday or you can give to Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt-A-Turkey Project, which commented on the Palin interview):

As BoomTown expected, the popularity of the chaste-yet-lustful vampire movie for screaming teen girls everywhere, “Twilight,” has inspired more online video spoofs than you can shake a braided rope of garlic at.

Rabid fans of Stephenie Meyer’s book series flew into theaters all weekend, adding up to a $70.5 million U.S. box office tally so far.

Thus, we are in for more online videos in praise and in mockery of Edward and Bella than perhaps even Alaska Governor Sarah Palin engendered.

Here’s one of the oh-so-serious “Twilight” trailers, followed by one of the better spoofs–by Evil Iguana Productions–below it:

This weekend, YouTube is going analog, showing off a bunch of the freaky people who have become online phenoms, at YouTube Live, its “first ever official live community celebration.”

Taking place in San Francisco on Saturday, BoomTown and thousands more are going.

And, frankly, I am not sure I want to meet some of these folks, including the truly warped Fred Figglehorn (the No. 1 most subscribed channel in YouTube history), Obama Girl and Brandon Hardesty, the guy who does movie reenactments.

Also attending the event by YouTube, which is owned by Google (GOOG), are some actual stars, such as singers Akon and Will.I.Am.

YouTube says there will be more than 50 YouTube and real-world stars scheduled to appear, with a combined 2.5 billion video views on YouTube.

Will I be bringing my video camera? In the words of a more recent YouTube phenom, Governor Sarah Palin: You betcha!

Here are some YouTube phenoms:

Obama Girl

Fred Figglehorn

Brandon Hardesty

Will.I.Am

Please see this disclosure related to me and YouTube (which is owned by Google).

At least Yahoo got one day of stock euphoria, on the news that its CEO, Jerry Yang, was stepping down, before Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer dropped yet another bomb on the troubled Internet giant by saying once more with feeling that he is not at all interested in buying it.

Yahoo (YHOO) stock plummeted on the news, dropping below $10 a share to close at $9.14, down $2.41 or an astonishing 21 percent.

While lack of interest in acquiring Yahoo is a sentiment that Ballmer has expressed more times than Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said “maverick” in the presidential campaign, Wall Street continues to hold out hope that Microsoft might swoop in and make a new takeover bid for all of Yahoo.

It will not. Let’s repeat. It. Will. Not.

Thus, an obviously frustrated Ballmer reiterated his nondesire for Yahoo at Microsoft’s annual shareholders meeting, near its Redmond HQ today.

“We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo,” Ballmer said. “We did our best…we’ve moved on.”

And so should investors, stock analysts and hedge fund vultures, who actually contact BoomTown on a daily basis, asking if when I wrote that Microsoft (MSFT) was not interested in buying Yahoo, I actually meant that it was interested.

Not interested means, well, not interested, except when it comes to those who wish fervently for a pop in Yahoo stock.

But the only way that is going to happen is slowly, as Yahoo rebuilds its much-battered business, brick by brick. And that presumably will happen when a new CEO is selected to run Yahoo.

Lucky for Yahoo, what Ballmer has repeatedly also said is that he was very interested in (and said again today) a search partnership deal with the company.

Microsoft essentially wants to take over that part of Yahoo’s business and will likely give it a pretty penny to do so. For all its troubles, Yahoo remains the No. 2 search player, well behind Google (GOOG), but well ahead of Microsoft.

Microsoft execs think grabbing Yahoo’s business will help it gain on Google–good luck with that, but it gets an A for effort!

And it also hopes another reorganization of its digital businesses will help it do so.

Right now, for example, newly annointed digital exec Yusuf Mehdi is deep in the midst of a restructuring of his division.

Mehdi’s online services portfolio at Microsoft now includes marketing, online audience business development and product management for MSN and the search properties, but divisions and execs are being shifted around.

But the big news, of course, will be the person Ballmer selects to be Mehdi’s boss, as well as the boss for Satya Nadella, the SVP who heads engineering for Microsoft’s search, portal and advertising platform group, and for Brian McAndrews, the SVP for the advertiser and publisher solutions group.

While Ballmer has taken his sweet time in picking someone, after Kevin Johnson left his post overseeing the division in late July, sources inside and outside Microsoft have told me the company is very close to picking a new head.

That would be a good thing since Ballmer has worn out his Rolodex trying–he has been turned down by many, including former Yahoo CEO Dan Rosensweig.

While I am trying to ferret out the current choice, sources said the main candidate is more technically oriented and is well known in Silicon Valley.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

About a month ago, BoomTown reported that MSN executive producer and general manager Jeff Dossett (pictured here) was contemplating joining Yahoo.

Microsoft (MSFT) released a statement that day saying Dossett was indeed stepping down from his MSN duties, as I had posted, but noted that he was staying put at the software giant.

Oops, it looks like I was right in my initial report: “The Secret Microsoft Invasion of Yahoo Continues: MSN GM Headed There Soon?”

Dossett has accepted a job as SVP, U.S. Audience at Yahoo, Yahoo (YHOO) said in a press release this afternoon.

“I am very excited about this new leadership opportunity at Yahoo,” wrote Dossett in an email to me. “Of course, I have great respect for my many friends and colleagues at Microsoft and I wish them well.”

But is the hire linked to my report earlier today of Yahoo Media Group SVP Scott Moore leaving?

You betcha, as Governor Sarah Palin says.

While the company had already been deep in conversations with Dossett for another job, as head of business development, management scrambled after Moore reportedly told Yahoo of his plans to leave a week ago.

After BoomTown this morning reported that Moore, as well as Yahoo News general manager Alan Warms, were departing later this week, Yahoo confirmed the departures this afternoon.

Dossett will report to Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of Yahoo U.S., and fill the role previously held by Moore, although the title is different. Yahoo said Moore was leaving “to pursue other opportunities.”

A Yahoo spokesman also said later about Warms:

“We’ve worked with Alan over the last couple of months on an orderly transition plan of his responsibilities over to Neeraj Khemlani, who will continue to lead Programming & Development for News & Information at Yahoo. We wish Alan much success in his future endeavors and know that Neeraj will continue driving Yahoo News to even greater success.”

Dossett will have presumably have purview over all that and more.

A longtime and experienced mountain climber, he has been one of the more senior digital execs at Microsoft.

The reason given for Dossett’s departure from Microsoft, announced internally in mid-September, was to also “pursue other opportunities” (I still love this phrase, as oily as it is.)

As I wrote then: “While the hire is not yet complete, that apparently means that he is likely going to rival and onetime Microsoft quarry Yahoo as a senior exec.”

It has all been an interesting digital-musical-chair trend, in fact. Also last month, another former Microsoft big shot, Joanne Bradford, started her job as Yahoo’s top U.S. ad sales exec.

Bradford came to Yahoo after a very short stint as national ad sales head at the trendy Los Angeles start-up, Spot Runner.

Previous to that, Bradford (pictured here) had been at Microsoft for many years, most recently as VP and chief media officer of MSN Media Network.

While at Microsoft, Jeff Dossett was a close colleague of Bradford, so his moving to Yahoo is probably not that much of a surprise.

Outgoing Yahoo Media Group SVP Moore, who has been at Yahoo since 2005, is another former Microsoft digital exec, where he worked all over the company.

In his job at MSN, Dossett was the lead for audience, content and programming strategy and execution in the U.S.

He had worked at the company since 1991, in a variety of sales and marketing jobs in Canada, and later worked on strategy and business development for MSN.

Dossett was also CEO of Carpoint, now MSN Autos, and was GM of its real estate arm.

He also took two years off from Microsoft in 2002 to climb the highest mountains on each of the seven continents, finally reaching the summit of Mount Everest in May of 2004.

Dossett reached the summit of Everest again for a second time this past May.

Here is Yahoo’s press release about his appointment in its entirety:

JEFF DOSSETT JOINS YAHOO! TO LEAD US AUDIENCE BUSINESSES

In 2002, Dossett took two years away from his career at Microsoft to pursue his passion for adventure with a goal to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents, known as the “Seven Summits.” Reaching the summit of Mount Everest on May 24, 2004, Dossett became the third Canadian in history to successfully complete the Seven Summits. On May 22nd, 2008, Jeff became the second Canadian in history to reach the summit Mount Everest for the second time. He serves on the Board of Advisors of VillageReach (www.villagereach.org), GOOD Worldwide Inc. (www.good.is), and Live Mocha (www.livemocha.com). Dossett holds a degree in business administration with honors from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

As BoomTown has noted, one of the best things to come out of this election has been the very funny and very topical humor that has been on "Saturday Night Live" in this political cycle.

Headlined by Tina Fey's perfect impression of Republican VP candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the offerings from the comedy television show has been biting without stooping to the rank meanness from so many other places by both sides.

Last night, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain--who has been on SNL before (his "John McCain Sings Barbra Streisand" skit was really a gem from that appearance)--was in two skits on the show and did a great job in both.

The first was a really clever opening sketch in which he and Fey as Palin appeared on the QVC cable shopping network, sheepishly explaining that they could not afford to buy time on the major networks as Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama did last week.

Money quote from McCain: "I'm a true maverick, a Republican without money."

Along with a set of "John McCain Pork Knives" and "McCain Fine Gold" (with Cindy McCain as the comely demoer), Fey (as Palin) goes rogue and starts selling "Palin in 2012" T-shirts.

In a second appearance on "Weekend Update," McCain did another nice turn, running through a series of new strategies to win, such as "The Sad Grandpa" and the "The Reverse Maverick."

Here are the videos:

Opening QVC Sketch

Weekend Update

Once again, it is likely to be more popular online than on television, as it has been for all of the sketches, a striking trend for the long-running comedy show.

Now, the Democratic side–which has been overwhelmingly more active in creating funny online videos–is back with yet another political spoof.

This time, it is via pranking on boy bands like ‘N Sync and New Kids on the Block with a new one. Of course, the group is called Boybama.

Singing to white independent women, Boybama’s song, “Battleground for Your Heart,” is oddly catchy.

Here’s the video:

Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin did a very smooth--if a tiny bit sweetly awkward--job in her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" last night.

It was a good decision to go low-key and also do a bit of stunt casting by bringing in Mark Wahlberg, who was mocked in an impersonation last week by SNL, and also Alec Baldwin.

The well-known liberal actor did a nice turn pretending to insult Palin, while thinking she was his "30 Rock" co-star Tina Fey, whose many turns at impersonating Palin have become a huge Internet hit.

Palin came on again later in the NBC television comedy show on its "Weekend Update," rocking out to a perfect rap by a very pregnant Amy Poehler.

These two from SNL will surely be the biggest Web video hits this week.

And, goodness gracious, do Palin and Fey really look alike, passing by each other at the end of the opening skit without speaking.

Sometimes politics can be really ugly and sometimes silly--and this time Palin managed to poke fun at herself without being either.

You betcha' she did.

Here's the two videos from last night and also the other three that already aired on SNL:

Opening:

Weekend Update Palin Rap:

VP Debate:

Interview with NBC's Katie Couric:

With Sen. Hillary Clinton:

As former Disney CEO and online video investor Michael Eisner said in a recent onstage Q&A appearance about what works for video on the Web: “Sex seems to work. User-generated, sports, news, anything with Sarah Palin works.”

Indeed, anything with Sarah Palin.

Besides the huge amount of spoof humor videos that have popped up everywhere, both professional and amateur, as well as the explosive number of viewings of online videos of Tina Fey impersonating the Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor.

Here is the latest Internet effort, an unusual interactive site called PalinAsPresident in which you click on various items in the Oval Office, where Palin is sitting behind the desk, to hear funny remarks from her.

Click on a globe and you hear “SomethingStan.” Click on a poster for the film, “Maverick,” and you hear, naturally, “maverick.” Of course, there is a pit bull wearing lipstick inside the desk.

Keep clicking on the door and you get three different images. But don’t click on the deer the third time–trust me, it is much worse than the fate that befell Bambi’s mom.

Also, don’t click the red phone twice, or it’s curtains for us all. As the spoof Palin says: “Uh-oh!”

Apparently not, from this aggressively pro-Sen. Barack Obama video that has become a huge hit on the Web and seen by many millions of viewers.

It’s called “The Great Schlep,” which is also a political advocacy organization she supports.

In it, the viciously funny Silverman plans to blame–I am not kidding–old Jewish grandparents if Democratic nominee Obama loses the Presidential election. And she advises a very clever kind of blackmail as a way to prevent it.

You have to experience her logic to understand–and please be aware that Silverman pulls no punches.

And, if Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin goes on “Saturday Night Live”–as is rumored–to impersonate Tina Fey, BoomTown will get it right up.

Here’s the video (and below it, the other huge hit online spoof video Silverman did about her–um–friendly relationship with actor Matt Damon):

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.