American Idol “Likes” Facebook For Online Voting

Entertainment Weekly’s EW.com is reporting that American Idol will add “online voting” to its arsenal but there is one catch…you must have a Facebook account to vote.

Facebook users will be able to navigate to an exclusive Idol page where all the current contestants will be listed. Each Facebook user will be able to vote 50 times for their favorite contestant during the time of the telecast. (I wonder how that is going to work with each time zone.) Facebook voting will become the third way of voting besides text messaging and the old fashioned way of calling the toll-free number. Can Twitter be far behind?

Although online voting has been in the works for a while, news of it was rushed (leaked) out to the public when it was learned that Simon Cowell, creator of the upcoming “X-Factor” and former Idol judge (yeah remember him?) was also going to announce online voting via Facebook. Cowell later “leaked” his own announcement.

If you don’t already have your Facebook account, more than 200 million people already do worldwide; you have less than a week to get ready. The first online voting will begin during next Tuesday’s show (March 1, 2011) with the top 10 male semi-finalists. And while you’re at it, “like” us at TRI 102.5. We’re right there on the right side of our webpage, www.tri1025.com.