Today, music-nerd bible Pitchfork Media launched a newly redesigned site. The first thing most readers probably noticed as they rolled out of bed or sat down at their desks was the really cool looking yet highly intrusive iPod Touch banner at the top of the page. This Flash monster not only shows the iPod Touch in action, but the device itself smacks around the menu buttons located along the top. Wait, what? Pitchfork doesn’t have menu buttons there, and everything isn’t all white, and hmm, that font looks familiar. Not only was an Apple ad featured prominently, but the site design itself seemed to be taking a lot of cues from Apple, too. If it’s permanent, it will take some getting used to. If it’s some sort of sarcastic jab at the indie love affair with Apple products, well played Pitchfork. And if it’s one of those “so ironic, it’s not” moments, then well played again. I think.

I’m sure some of you have noticed Facebook’s newest feature: the ability to “like” your friend’s status updates, posted items, or shared media. All this feature does it alert the poster that the item or story is liked, by you. “Chris likes this” it would say. That’s all. If you really like it, why not just make a comment and be somewhat insightful, funny or rude? To me, this feature is almost as useless as the “poke,” and offers nothing more than to say “Yes, I am aware of your presence on Facebook.” Is this just another way of passively trying to initiate contact? Why is there no “dislike” button? I think that would be more fun, as I dislike many things that I read on Facebook. I’m sure I’d get my fair share of “disliked” notifications as well. That could actually be a good way to weed out the Facebook friends you have little in common with. Too many dislikes? How about a message pops up alerting you that “Chris has disliked 10 of your posted items. Would you like to un-friend him?” I’d probably click “yes.” And like it.

The CEO of my company seems to think not. He makes a few very interesting points in this guest column for Adweek. However, I don’t think the tools of digital marketers are limited at all. If anything, we have more tools. TV, print, radio, outdoor…these are fairly limited in their scope. The digital realm can span far beyond these traditional forms of advertising and engage people in ways previously unheard of.

Digital AOY? I don’t see the need