I examined the board and found that the most promising move is to build a horizontal threat on the bottom row. By playing in column 4, my piece will land at row 5, creating three consecutive O's (in columns 2, 3, and 4). This sets up a potential winning move on the following turn (by completing a four in a row, perhaps with column 5) and forces my opponent to block, giving me a strategic advantage. Therefore, I've chosen column 4.