American Idol and Social Media

Things are looking up after last night’s episode of American Idol. The talent is slowly starting to shine through. Viewers voted and four contestants were sent packing. John Park, Jermaine Sellers, Michelle Delamor, and Harley Vaughn were eliminated from the competition.

So what does American Idol and social media have to do with each other? This year American Idol has made headlines for pushing out individual Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace accounts for each of its 24 finalists. However, the show recently made a drastic change in strategy by consolidating all of them under the AI9Contestants username across sites.

According to resources, Twitter followers of each of the individual contestants were sent a message explaining that from now on all updates will be posted on the Official AI9 Twitter Page, and fans can follow their favorite Idol contestants there. Similar messages were sent on Facebook and MySpace as well.

The Wall Street Journal and USA Today speculate that the move was likely made because of the tendency for social media site followers to reveal early favorites, influence voting, and possibly remove the suspense of American Idol’s ending results. A contestant with more Facebook fans, Twitter followers, and MySpace friends is likely to get more votes and thus would have a higher chance of winning the competition.

On the other hand, American Idol has made it impossible for contestants to develop important connections with their fan base, which is crucial to the business side of the industry. Viewers can no longer directly engage with their favorite contestants.  This change is sure to have an impact on the number of followers on these social networking sites. Will less people Twitter or post on Facebook  if they can’t talk to Crystal Bowersox or Alex Lambert personally??

Are you following your favorite Idol contestant via Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace? How has this change impacted your involvement on their pages? Tell us about it!