Millions will be hitting the polls in the US today. Many will be spreading the word on the social web. It’s never been easier. Here are a few ways you can share your vote.

Get started with Google
Before you can spread the word you have to vote. Need help learning how and where? Google makes it easy by including a polling place finder in certain search results that links to a customized page powered by their Election Center.

Shout it out on Foursquare
Foursquare has been busy adding many polling places as venues and including them in as special category that shows up in your nearby places view. They are tracking check-ins in real-time nationwide at their shiny new site elections.foursquare.com.

Of course they are also offering a limited edition badge. Just check in with #ivoted  in the shout out to get yours.

Declare your vote on Facebook
Your Facebook home page includes a widget that lets you share your vote and has a running total of how many other users, including your friends, have voted.

Facebook also has an official U.S. polictics app that includes a polling place finder and will stream live video coverage starting later this afternoon.

Pimp out your profile with “I voted” avatar images
You can spread the word (and pile on the peer pressure) to all the social networks you belong to by changing your avatar photo. I’ve created some options below. They’re free for personal use. Click on each for a  larger version. Right-click (PC) or control-click (Mac) to grab the image.

Have you come across any other fun or creative ways to share your vote online?

Google celebrated John Lennon’s 70th birthday a little early (it’s tomorrow) with their first video doodle today. The animation is based one of Lennon’s hand-drawn self-portraits (included as the two O’s) and synced with a verse of Imagine. It’s been fun to watch Google experiment with different media in this space.

The most important thing you can do today is get out and vote. Google can help you find your polling place. Starbucks will even give you a free cup of coffee. Follow the action at Twitter Vote Report. All that’s left is for you to go and make the world a better place.

Adele McAlear wrote a great post this week about ICANN’s decision to remove restrictions on top level domains (TLDs). Essentially this means that .com and .net could soon be replaced by .anything and .everything. This started me thinking about how I have been using web addresses/URLs lately. More specifically, how I haven’t been using them very much at all.

For the average user, typing a full web address is probably a common occurrence. I’ve even resorted to the “type-in” technique to find a new site occasionally. However, I find myself visiting the address bar much less as the primary means of navigating the web. Yet I discovering new sites all the time. What changed?

An over-reliance on Google search probably accounts for much of this shift (I even use it as a spell-checker). All the blogs I frequent are already in Google Reader, new ones are just a subscribe click away. I’ve filled my bookmark toolbar with links to the social networks I’m most active in. Anything without an RSS feed that I want to refer to gets added to del.icio.us. Most of the new sites I visit are via hyperlinks in something I’m reading or referrals from other “trusted sources.”

Twitter’s 140-character limit has increased the popularity of a number of URL-shortening services like TinyURL and is.gd. StumbleUpon, and other sites that collaboratively filter links, are built around the concept of browsing without the address bar.

Given the sheer number of domains currently in use and the prospect of an unlimited number of new TLDs to contend with, how much longer before the address bar becomes irrelevant (or relegated to a much less prominent location in the browser)? What about the rise of the Semantic Web, where all kinds of data, not just web pages, is interconnected? Are we at the dawn of a new way to experience the web? I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Presentations and podcasts of the event are available — definitely worth checking out. Kudos to MIMA for putting together such a thoughtful experience. It was a fantastic reminder of how vibrant the local interactive community is. I’m really looking forward to next year!

A few highlights:

• LA-based Schematic shared some impressive examples of multi-dimensional/3-D navigation in projects rangings from DVDs to interactive video walls in airports. Dale Herigstad, Chief Creative Officer, made a point that sticks with me: of all the screens a web site can be viewed/experienced on, only the computer relies on mouse-driven navigation. All the others — gaming system, phone, TV, etc. — use up-down, left-right controls for navigation. The success of your site across these different realms depends on how well users can experience it without a mouse. With the introduction of the more touch and gesture navigated devices, this is an issue designers will need to start considering. I certainly hadn’t given it much thought before.
• Jim Lecinski from Google had a lot to say about some trends that will shape the digital landscape. I don’t know about you, but when Google tells me what they think is hot… I listen. You can see many of these trends reflected in Google’s product and service offerings — like the shift from storing information locally to remotely in a “cloud” online, an increased focus on video and letting the user define the way to consume your information. My favorite was the notion of “atomizing and distributing” your content. Breaking it up into small bits and sending it our to relevant audiences, rather than wait for them to come to you. Of course this is the whole point of modern search marketing, but there are exciting new channels developing. The one I’m really jazzed about is Google Gadget Ads — essentially a micro-site, the size of a banner ad that can contain a wide variety of content types (Flash, JavaScript, video). The amazing part is that Google serves and hosts the media and you can take advantage of it’s entire content network.
• Finally, the afternoon keynote from Jason Fried of 37signals was incredible. Not only did he use the coolest presentation slides I’ve seen in a while (simple message, big white text, each slide on a different background color), but his message was revolutionary. Like their ever-expanding product line attests to, he believes that true collaboration requires new rules, new procedures and new tools. Contrary to popular wisdom, he’s found that fewer meetings, passive digital communication (compared to direct verbal) and physical isolation from one’s colleagues actually increases productivity and enhances the collaborative process. I’m looking forward to reading his book.