Less than a penny for your thoughts, but the promise of influence.

The Nielsen Company makes its money by providing information to the media and entertainment industries, and has been doing it since 1940 or so, resulting in that time-honored tradition of sensationalism known as the sweeps.Their beta site, Heynielsen, solicits opinions and crunches numbers in a way more current than diaries and black boxes, promising a place where you can be “a force for change.” And, as they put it, all you need to play is “a strong opinion and a valid email address.  ”You won’t be paid in dollars, or even a penny for your thoughts (though you can win $1,000) , but the thought is that you will be a voice in determining what’s on TV.Actually, it goes well beyond TV to include movies, music, personalities, the internet and games. We might as well add politics to the list since presidential candidates are rated under personalities. While I have no idea what the demographics are for the site’s users, we can make some assumptions by looking at the top ratings.  The language used on the site seems to me very accessible, even mildly fun, and they offer some handy tools like feeds, widgets and a community hierarchy.  Even the privacy policy is presented in a way that seems as if they want you to actually understand it.  It’s a nice destination for the media herd animal and seems like a smart way for Nielsen to stay relevant.