The short: Less than a week after his State of the Union address, which was the most interactive speech ever made by a US president with over 760,000 live tweets, Obama will meet the pressing questions of the nation in a Google+ Hangout. Users can submit either video or text questions to the White House YouTube Channel, and can also elect the ones that the Commander in Chief will answer during his interview on January 30th. Several users with top-voted questions will also be invited to participate in what can be thought as FDR’s famed fireside chat recast for the 21st century.

Why it matters: With all due respect to those lovable Muppets, this will be far and away the biggest endorsement of Google’s social network and its hangout functionality. And, following the President’s foray into Instagram earlier this month, this high-profile Hangout On Air is another example of his strategic, ongoing use of social media to converse with his audience with transparency (to the degree possible) and, more importantly, activate them by providing what they want--a voice that’s heard, a seat by the “fireside” rather than a one-way broadcast. This strategy, of course, translates to brands: whether you call them constituents or customers, when people feel like they are participating and actively shaping something, loyalty is forged.

The short: Google was greeted by a major public outcry when it recently announced a change in its privacy policy. The new “master policy,” which takes effect on March 1, will act as the main governing document for all Google products across the board, from search engine to social network to Android activity.

Why it matters: While many users are afraid of the policy’s implications, fearing the fact that the search giant will be amassing even more of their personal information, Google believes this change will only increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its products. By combining information gathered on users from all of its services, Google will also be able to help guide advertisers so that they can better direct their targeted ads through a more robust understanding of their users’ interests, habits and happenings.

The short: With the twenty-twenty vision of hindsight, the founder of failed startup Plancast offered many pearls of wisdom about how to create the best social products and how to create experiences that compel users to share. He explained how all people are wired to share snippets of themselves, both to cast their lives in a favorable light and to create opportunities to receive validation from peers.

Why it matters: As young a field as social media is, it has been around long enough that there is now a significant body of knowledge that explains how to masterfully think about the social experiences we are creating for our users and customers. With an understanding of why people share, the act of consistently making engaging content and shareable experiences can be transformed from a mystery to a science. And with recent studies demonstrating that social sharing drives more engagement than paid ad placement, brands have every reason to leverage earned media in their marketing and advertising campaigns.