Have you met 500 people?

Should the Hadron Collider have been built? Are you looking forward to the advance in technology in the coming years? Do you think Leon Panetta is a wise choice for Director of the CIA? Are you worried about what your kids will see on the internet (namely this blog)?

These are the questions that are posed and pondered on ask500people.com - the site that allows the world to chime in on whatever is on people's minds. more

Now we wouldn't qualify this as a divining rod for the answer to your brand's or product's questions, but it is fascinating to see what people have to say, if they feel compelled to comment and from what part of the world they hail.

Here's one where a medical imaging company decided to put their new tagline to the test.

Let's look at the clear favorite: Accurate answers. Fast.

Simple. Generic.

In a distant second, we have: Flat-out precise.
It's confident, a little unusual in its phrasing, and in the medical profession, it seems that precision is much more valuable than accuracy.

That's the trick with focus groups of any kind - loose or formal. People generally gravitate towards what they already know in these types of settings, but when it comes to piquing their interest in the hustle and bustle of the outside world, you need to be shiny, new and unlike anything they've seen before to be perceived as better than what they already have.

Of course, the questions and multiple choice answers are often much more captivating than the responses because they provide more of a window into what answers people are searching for than a list of the top Google searches would show you. Let's take this one.

'Where should the Obamas get their dog?'


We've heard how it's got to be from the pound. No ifs, ands or buts. Especially since Obama's VP Joe Biden got his German Shepherd from a breeder. But seriously, where are you supposed to get one of the smartest and sought-after dogs around?

It opened our owl eyes to see one of the multiple choice answers was to get the dog through the classifieds. Brilliant suggestion! Pounds are overcrowded and underfunded. Wouldn't it be better to encourage trying to find good homes for pets via craigslist or the want ads versus dumping the dog at the pound?

Usually when people insist there's only one right answer, they haven't thought the whole thing through.

Anyway, just a fun place to experiment or play wallflower and see what's on people's minds.