Opinion on Demand

With the multitude of blogs, web boards and sites that enable users to leave comments there is no shortage of other people's opinions online.  Now, with the recent introduction of a new Google Maps mashup, Ask 500 People, users are able to more easily grasp public opinion as a whole - not just based on the latest comments or posts.  Site visitors have a number of options: They can participate in active polls - on topics ranging from wind chimes to Britney Spears; They can create their own question to posted and prested to the public; Or, they can simply digest everyone else's opinions.  The cool thing about the site is that it appears to update in real-time and overlays answers on a global map--which in the end may or may not indicate certain demograpic trends/opinions on any given topic.

It will be interesting to see how large the site's user base can grow to once it is out of beta.  With a sizeable user base and more ways to filter or measure specific demograpic features I see a lot of potential for this to grow beyond a fun mashup to play around with into a vialbe polling source--where marketers and information seekers alike could could turn.

Overall, Ask 500 People does a good job at realizing a viable tool that begins to interactively measure The Wisdom of Crowds--a term made popular by James Surowiecki's 2004 book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations.

The site is worth checking out--it's fun and entertaining at the very least.  Maybe we will finally get an answer to the ubicquous question "Coke" or "Pepsi".