While attention is fragmenting across multiple web channels and formats, there are smart ways to use different pieces of the online puzzle to create a single, unified communication effort, even for something as simple as answering a question.

As copycats began creating cringe-inducing one-offs of the Old Spice Twitter-YouTube experiment, I suggested in a post on this blog that the real lesson from the Old Spice guy responding to tweets with often-hysterical YouTube videos is that queries on Twitter need not be answered solely on Twitter. The response can link to a YouTube video if video is better suited to providing a good answer.

PR-Squared blogger Todd Defren wrote late last month about Home Depot’s adaptation of the concept. Todd explained:

So, you have a question about how-to prep a room for a new paint job? Tweet about it, or visit any of a number of well-known DIY sites online, or visit Home Depot???s own new community. Regardless of where you post your question, you can reasonably expect HD???s resident expert, PatInPaint, to either write or videotape a 1-2 minute response, right from within the Paint section of his homebase HD store in Atlanta.

PatInPaint???s helpful instructional video will be posted for you in the forum you???re hanging out in, but may also be posted in the Home Depot DIY Community, and/or on their Facebook Page, and/or in their YouTube channel.

Given the entrepreneurial spirit Home Depot associates bring to their jobs (I did some work for Home Depot Canada; our research results showed associates embraced the entrepreneurial culture that goes back to the company’s founder), letting engaged employees create videos that answer customer questions is a brilliant idea…brilliant not only because it provides the answer in the best possible format to convey the information, but because the video answer is now available for anyone searching on that topic. Equally important: It puts the associates with whom you’d interact in the store in front of the camera, instilling greater confidence in their capabilities and encouraging store visits.

Yesterday, the idea of combining two media in a single query-response engagement was announced that involves not one but two organizations: job website Monster.com and the White House. With the economy front-and-center in the minds of the American public (especially so soon after mid-term election results that reflected frustration over progress on the jobs front), Monster.com has teamed up with the Obama administration to solicit questions from the public on government efforts to improve the job market.

For a week, you can submit a question through Monster.com’s Facebook page. The top five questions will be selected on November 14. White House representatives will respond to those five questions with video answers. Since the promotion was announced, the site has been flooded with questions like this one:

Of course, the usual politically-motivated snark characterizes a lot of the questions, but there are plenty of well thought-out questions from which the team will be able to choose. But my focus here is on the fact that the single exchange—question-and-answer—begins on Facebook and ends with a video that can appear just about anywhere.

You’re certainly not limited to video in a response. Anything from a graphic (a photo, chart, or diagram, which can be archived at sites like Flickr) to a PowerPoint presentation (posted to Slideshare would work, assuming it’s the best way to answer the question.

I’m anxious to see which organization will be next to adopt this trend that takes advantage of the fragmented environment the Net has become.