Why are American Idol fans busily setting up fake Facebook accounts today? Because of Idol’s plan to introduce an on-line voting system this year, and the rumor that the voting will be tied to Facebook accounts.
Earlier this week, American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe announced that Idol will allow viewers to vote on-line this year (instead of solely by text message as in the past). [Source: Mansfield, Brian. “Idol Chatter: Candid commentary on American Idol performances,” USA Today, 2/22/2011. Downloaded from: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2011/02/nigel-lythgoe-plans-online-voting-beatles-cutbacks/1]
Now Deadline.com reports the new rumor that American Idol has a deal with Facebook to transition to on-line voting. [Source: NELLIE ANDREEVA. Simon Fuller: ‘Idol’ Has Found Itself, Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:58:16 +0000. Downloaded from: http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/simon-fuller-idol-has-found-itself/]. That means, probably, that Facebook accounts will be used to ensure that each viewer can only vote a set number of times.
Obviously, if the American Idol partnership with Facebook is for real (and not just a rumor), then fans and family members of Idol contestants must be busy setting up fake Facebook accounts at this very moment, to ensure that they can cast more than the permitted number of votes. And setting up a fake Facebook account is easy – even Sarah Palin has done it (allegedly). [Source: Linkins, Jason. “Sarah Palin Issues Statement On Fake Facebook Page, Which Is Now Offline,” Huffington Post, 2/23/11. Downloaded from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/sarah-palin-statement-fake-facebook-page_n_827280.html]
While American Idol has not yet confirmed the partnership with Facebook, it is difficult to see how an on-line voting system could be set up without a social network partner. Millions of Idol viewers are too young to have credit cards (which prevents an obvious authentication system that would work for adults), but most of them have Facebook accounts. Idol must have some system for combatting the use of fake Facebook accounts in mind; it will be interesting to see how they handle that issue.
Sources
Linkins, Jason. “Sarah Palin Issues Statement On Fake Facebook Page, Which Is Now Offline,” Huffington Post, 2/23/11. Downloaded from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/23/sarah-palin-statement-fake-facebook-page_n_827280.html
Mansfield, Brian. “Idol Chatter: Candid commentary on American Idol performances,” USA Today, 2/22/2011. Downloaded from: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter/post/2011/02/nigel-lythgoe-plans-online-voting-beatles-cutbacks/1
NELLIE ANDREEVA. Simon Fuller: ‘Idol’ Has Found Itself, Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:58:16 +0000. Downloaded from: http://www.deadline.com/2011/02/simon-fuller-idol-has-found-itself/
