[#AskObama ] Obama's Twitter town hall to focus on economy, job

Obama's Twitter town hall to focus on economy, job - (CNN) -- President Barack Obama will answer questions about the economy and jobs Wednesday during his first Twitter town hall meeting.

But the president, known for his oft- lengthy responses to the shortest of questions, will not be confined to Twitter's 140-character limit. He is verbally answering questions from Twitter users, who were urged to use the hashtag #AskObama.

With the exception of questions coming from Twitter users -- known as tweeps -- the East Room town hall event will be like many the president has done before: fielding select questions conveyed via new media technologies while giving "old-fashioned" answers with a microphone.

"He's just answering the questions. He's not typing and tweeting," White House spokesman Jay Carney said last week.

White House officials have said the so-called "Tweetup" is a fresh opportunity for the president to engage with Americans beyond the Beltway.

The event will feature an audience of about 140 individuals who follow the White House Twitter feed and signed up for a chance to attend. The 140 is not a coincidence -- it's the number of characters allowed in a tweet.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will monitor the expected flood streaming in through the official #AskObama hashtag.

"Questions addressed during the town hall will be selected both in advance and in real-time during the event," Twitter said in a statement.

Obama held a similar town hall at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California, in April and a YouTube town hall at the White House in February.

At both events, the White House was criticized for ignoring the subject that drew by far the most queries: whether he supports legalizing marijuana.

Though the president rarely tweets himself, the administration has increasingly used social media to bypass traditional media outlets and convey information directly to supporters.

Several senior administration officials tweet regularly, including Carney.

From Alexander Mooney, CNN
July 6, 2011 -- Updated 0942 GMT (1742 HKT) | Filed under: Social Media

Google to retire Blogger & Picasa brands

Google to retire Blogger & Picasa brands -(Mashable) -- Say goodbye to the Picasa and Blogger names: Google intends to retire several non-Google name brands and rename them as Google products, Mashable has learned.

The move is part of a larger effort to unify its brand for the public launch of Google+, the search giant's social initiative.

Blogger and Picasa aren't going away, of course -- they're two of Google's most popular products. Instead, according to two sources familiar with the matter, Google intends to rename Picasa "Google Photos" and Blogger will become "Google Blogs."

Several other Google brands are likely to be affected, though our sources made it clear that YouTube would not be rebranded. The technology giant shut down Google Video, its failed web video service, in May.

The move isn't without precedent; Google acquired JotSpot in 2006 and rebranded it as Google Sites in 2008. In 2007, Google acquired VOIP platform GrandCentral and relaunched it as Google Voice in 2009.

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Picasa and Blogger were also Google acquisitions, although both companies have been part of the Google empire for far longer. Picasa was acquired in 2004 and Blogger (co-founded by Evan Williams of Twitter) was acquired in 2003 and is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world.

Although the rebranding could upset some existing customers, it also gives Google the ability to completely integrate both services into Google+.

Rebranding coming in next six weeks

The transition from Picasa and Blogger to Google Photos and Google Blogs will occur "in a month to a month and a half," we've been told.

The date aligns with the likely public launch of Google+. Mashable has been told to expect the public debut of Google+ on or before July 31. The date is important because it's the day all private Google Profiles will be deleted.

We believe Google doesn't want to have private profiles after the public Google+ launch. Instead, the company is likely to encourage users who want more privacy to use Circles to curate their friend groups.

The brand unification effort will be the largest in company history -- it's never renamed a property as large as Blogger. The popular blog creation service has been receiving a lot of extra love recently. In March, Google announced that Blogger would receive a major overhaul. We doubt many people expected that the overhaul would include a rebranding, though.

Google+ makes perfect sense for Blogger and Picasa -- they are both social products that improve as more people use them.

It's important to note that Google+ already has a photos feature, a product that we believe utilizes Picasa technology. It's also important to note that Google+'s photo feature has no Picasa branding of any kind.

Google declined to comment on this story.

See the original article on Mashable.com

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