Obama kicks off Twitter town with a tweet

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is kicking off his first Twitter town hall with — what else? — a tweet.

Obama sent the tweet from a laptop set up on a podium in the East Room of the White House. He typed this message: "In order to reduce the deficit, what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep?"

Obama is taking questions on jobs and the economy submitted on Twitter, the popular social media service. Twitter selected the questions.

While the inquiries must meet Twitter's 140-character limit, Obama has no such restrictions. The president is answering his questions verbally and aides say his responses won't be constrained by time limits.