First round of 'Idol' social media experiment appears to be allowing one tweet per day per contestant.
By Gil Kaufman
Tim Urban
Photo: FOX
The great "American Idol" social media experiment got off to a mellow start last week. In the handful of days since the show announced that it would allow contestants to post to show-approved Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages, the chatter so far has been predictably tame, ranging from hair-care tips and props to other singers to nerves, excitement about the first live performance show and a couple of shout-outs to the contestants' tykes.
The last Idol to make the cut, Texan Tim Urban — who replaced the disqualified Chris Golightly last week — kicked off his Twitter page posts by saying simply on Thursday, "having an awesome time," which linked to more than 70 fans who gave the floppy-haired singer encouragement. By Friday, he was already apologizing for not being able to respond to his nearly 1,500 followers, and on Saturday, he revealed that the top 24 were working on the group song and that he was psyched about performing on Wednesday. Fellow singer Jermaine Sellers was encouraging his 837 followers to hit up his Facebook page, and a savvy John Park suggested to his 1,800 peeps that though "being in the top 24 is an incredible experience already," he needs their help to "get more."
For her part, Crystal Bowersox (1,593 followers), the first woman on the show to rock dreads, wanted to clear up a few misconceptions. "I rinse, repeat. Just like normal hair," she wrote. "I just don't have to fuss with styling it." In addition to expressing an urge to get on with the singing already, Bowersox crowed about seeing her son on Saturday, calling him a "walking machine."
Intended to pull the curtain back a bit on the tightly controlled environment contestants enter once they make the "American Idol" top 24, the social media experiment will allow the show's performers to keep in touch with their fanbase (and perhaps build it further) through an egalitarian system in which they will each post an equal number of updates. So far, that number appears to be around one a day, and while the MySpace pages remain bare, the tweets have been repeated on the Facebook destinations. A spokesperson for the show could not be reached for comment on how or if each post will be vetted by producers and what guidelines the singers have been given about what topics/language is forbidden.
For the most part, the early comments were pretty bland, with little-known Joe Munoz (653 followers) gushing about interviews and rehearsals; brawny personal trainer Michael Lynche getting jacked about his workouts and how much he misses his newborn; 16-year-old Aaron Kelly tweeting about taking time out from rehearsals to attend classes with fellow high-schoolers Katie Stevens and Haeley Vaughn; and Todrick Hall gushing about walking his first red carpet on Friday night. Stevens said she also managed to get a workout in on Saturday, one day after attending the top 24 party.
Janell Wheeler is quickly establishing her voice as the squeaky clean, rainbows-and-unicorns-loving Brooke White of 2010, with tweets like "lovin life! Hello to my ZOMGs, Sunflowers & supporters! Love y'all!" Meanwhile, sandwich maker Lilly Scott was digging the "big fancy houses" the group are shacked up in and promised to bring some "indie music to the mainstream table" by touting her love of the underground act Sleigh Bells. Paige Miles isn't that well known (only 545 followers), but she took her opportunity to mention her latest reading material, "The Titan's Curse," the third book in the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series.
Lacey Brown is another one who seems to be on the sunshine trip, declaring Friday "Love Your Life" day and boasting on Saturday that she was wearing a feather in her hair. "Eat your heart out Cher! Oh and compliment someone today. You know you wanna!"
Meanwhile, 23-year-old Los Angeles waitress Didi Benami (1,928 followers) took the time to shout out her inspiration for trying out for "Idol," late friend Rebecca Joy, writing on Saturday, "read a review of Rebecca Joy's music yesterday. It was amazing to know people are listening to her songs."
Some, like Tyler Grady (1,774 followers so far), seem to already understand the benefit of Twitter, as shown when he teased fans with "the song is ... well, any guesses?" And though he's still way ahead in the followers column at more than 7,700, Andrew Garcia has kept things pretty generic with his three posts so far, focusing on hyping rehearsals and thanking fans for their support. Katelyn Epperly (924 followers) seems to have bonded with Wheeler, Miles and Brown, tweeting on Friday that she was going to use her rare day off to go shopping for organic produce and offering the philosophical nugget, "you might be a big fish in a little pond ... doesn't mean you've won cuz along may come a bigger one."
Do these tweets give you any more insight into the lives of "Idol" contestants than before? What do you think so far? What do you want them to write about? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Related PhotosJennifer Sky
Jessica Cauffiel
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