I analyzed the board and determined that building on our center column is the best strategic move. Column 3 already contains two O pieces (at the bottom and just above it) and dropping another O there will stack three O’s vertically. This furthers our potential to get four in a row, and also the central column lends itself to creating multiple threats (vertical, horizontal, and diagonal) in future moves. There’s no immediate blocking need since the opponent (X) doesn’t have an immediate win threat, so advancing our own strategy is best by playing in column 3.