American Idol is in its 9th season. Fans who love this show, love it a lot. But the landscape of the show and how people watch, interact and vote have changed significantly over the past 9 years. To keep up American Idol has had to implement an aggressive social media campaign using Facebook, myspace and Twitter to keep viewers interested.
The logical next step for Idol is to implement voting through the use of social media, so fans would be able to vote through Twitter hashtags, myspace comments and even Facebook polls. The only problem with this is infrastructure. Currently the phone lines keep multiple voters to a minimum due to wait time and busy signals, the same is likely to happen with Twitter or Facebook as the servers wouldn't be able to accommodate the influx of users.
Another good step to take would be integrating social media into the live show. They could hold a Twitter poll to see what song a contestant will sing, or ask questions via Facebook. Incorporating social media into live show adds another way for fans to interact which keeps interest in an otherwise formulaic show.
While there has been some amazing talent that has come out of the show not every winner is a hit. Nine seasons is a good run. Paula is gone and Simon is going. American Idol just isn't the same anymore. I think even with the adaptation of social media American Idol is nearing the end.
And to that effect I say don't beat a dead horse.
For more in depth looks into American Idol's social media campaign check out Zoya, Carmen, Caitlin, Kara and Sayurie's Blogs!
I'm a loyal Idol viewer so I completely disagree with your statement at the end of this post! LOL HOWEVER, I'm really feeling your suggestion about having fans vote for song choices using social media, such as facebook and twitter. This seems like a really good idea!
ReplyDeleteI agree that social media has been used to "keep viewers interested". Idol needs to use every weapon in its arsenal to keep from falling out of that top ratings spot and social media is an obvious choice. I also wonder if the use of social media has introduced new viewers to the fabulous world of televised pop music talent programs.
ReplyDeleteI agree the logical step for American Idol to take is to incorporate social media into its voting system. But I imagine it would face a lot of problems. It would have to ensure that spoilers would be kept to a minimum on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be a great idea for American Idol to implement a live Twitter poll. This seems like it would be the next logical step in the social media game. This would be a great way to actually engage fans during the show.
ReplyDeleteI think voting through social media would be very difficult to monitor. A better way to get viewers input through social media would be through song suggestion and voting on weekly Idol themes.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there are forums on MyIdol about song suggestions.. I'm not sure if these song suggestions are taken into consideration or not.. but they are on the official fan page so it is possible.