Twitter and Facebook provide a great way for fans to communicate their thoughts and song choice suggestions to their favorite American Idol contestant. The finalists have the potential to accumulate many thousands of Twitter followers and generate an impressive amount of Facebook likes as well.
According to International Business Times the 2013 Top 4 girls’ Twitter and Facebook totals as of April 25th at 6pm (just before Thursday’s results show) were as follows:
Angie Miller – Twitter: 120, 350 & Facebook Likes: 72,696
Candice Glover – Twitter: 64,800 & Facebook Likes: 24,378
Kree Harrison – Twitter: 61,789 & Facebook Likes: 11,940
Amber Holcomb – Twitter: 39,159 & Facebook Likes: 7,551
Does their popularity on social media in any way equate to the number of votes the contestants receive each week and their eventual place in the ranks after the votes are counted?
During Season 10 it sure looked that way. The phenomenon known as the “Twitter Curse” was first brought to our attention during American Idol Season 10. This is the year producers set up Idol sanctioned Twitter and Facebook accounts for the Top 10 finalists. The basic theory of the “curse” was that the number of tweets and Facebook likes a contestant received in the days and hours leading up to the results show predicted whether or not they would be voted off. The surprising thing about it was the more tweets a contestant received the more likely they were to be voted off.
During that season, that interpretation of Twitter and Facebook totals accurately predicted the outcome of the voting every week including the finale, with the exception of one.
The curse theory doesn’t seem to apply to American Idol 2013’s Angie since she has not landed in the Bottom 3 so far this season and likely will not end up there in the remaining few weeks of the competition.
Some reports attribute Angie’s lead in social media popularity to the attention she received when she performed her original song, “Set Me Free”. The song has had more than 3.5 million views on YouTube.
Candice and Kree haven’t as yet performed an original song, but they have both delivered consistently strong performances all season. Is that enough to account for their high totals relative to Amber? The appearance of Drake and Paula Abdul most likely provided a boost in Candice’s popularity in recent weeks. Kree’s popularity among the judges seems to be in decline. Keith Urban said not long ago that she’ll be a member of the Grand Ole Opry soon and Nicki Minaj said she would be performing on the Country Music Awards. Candice had not been voted into the bottom 3 all season until last Thursday night. Kree and Amber have both landed in the bottom of the rankings.
The judges have said that America doesn’t seem to get Amber and they have been accused of giving her overzealous praise in recent weeks. Some have said it’s been a transparent attempt to influence the voters that may have backfired. In any case, it hasn’t had much of a positive effect in the social media communities. Amber has given some great performances but continues to generate the lowest Twitter and Facebook totals of the Top 4. Is it just because America just doesn’t “get” her or is there some other explanation?
Tell us your thoughts on what the Top 4’s Twitter and Facebook popularity really means and does it really have an effect on the outcome of the voting?
L.A.–Really good information here. I wasn’t aware of the Twitter curse. I also liked the Twitter and Facebook totals information. As you pointed out, it doesn’t seem to affect Angie. Did she have a good following before Idol? I think the judges are wrong in comparing Amber with Whitney Houston. I think she may be more like Jennifer Hudson who also was voted out before the top three and went on to great success. I’m not sure what the Twitter and Facebook popularity really means. Maybe it means that people are commenting on Twitter and Facebook during the voting times, instead of voting. It seems like the whole voting process got more complicated when multiple ways of voting came into the picture. Up to that time it was just “dial like crazy for your favorite.” Once texting and cell phone apps came into the picture, and then the Facebook-50-votes, everything got more complicated.
Maybe the unlimited voting is just a way for Ryan to announce that huge numbers of votes were cast. It makes the show sound more popular than it really is. The actual number of voters is no where near the number of votes.
After reading your comment I did a little research. Angie had been posting videos of various cover songs on YouTube for about a year before auditioning for Idol. She also had her own twitter account but asked her followers to switch to the official American Idol twitter account once the season started. Its hard to say for sure whether any of this has impacted her current status, it was definitely worth pointing out. Thanks.
After reading your comment I did a little research. Angie had been posting videos of various cover songs on YouTube for about a year before she auditioned for Idol. She also had her own twitter account but asked her followers to switch to the official American Idol twitter account once the season started. Its hard to say for sure whether any of this has had an effect on her current status, but it was definitely worth pointing out. Thanks.
Thanks for checking further. This could account for her large fan base from the get-go.
Amber is always being compared to the great Whitney Houston and I just can’t see the similarities. She does use a lot of the same facial expressions and mannerisms when she sings that Whitney had, whether by coincidence or by design, who knows? To say she has the same level of vocal ability is ridiculous.
I SO AGREE WITH YOU SHE IS NO WHITNEY NO WERE NEAR HER
i absolutely agree with you. she is no Whitney and never will be. She in my opinion is no powerhouse either.
SO SAD BUT I HAVE WATCH EVER SEASON AND THIS ONE IS THE WORST THE JUDGES
SUCK MOST OF THE SINGER SUCK THEY DON’T WANT THE BEST SINGER TO WIN
BECAUSE KREE IS THE BEST SIGNER ON THIS SEASON SHE KNOWS WHO SHE IS AND
SHE IS STRONG BUT IT IS THE JUDGES THAT HAVE ME UP SET THEY DON’T DO
THEIR JOB AND OMG NIKKI HER COMMENTS ARE WAY OUT THERE MOST OF THE TIME
I DID SOMETHING THIS SEASON I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER DO WELL 2 THINGS I
STOPPED VOTING BECAUSE OUR VOTES DON’T COUNT AND NUMBER 2 I DID NOT
WATCH LAST WEEK SHOW BECAUSE I JUST GET PISSED OFF EVERY WEEK LISTENING
TO MOST OF THE JUDGES, KEITH IS THE ONLY ONE WHO TELLS IT LIKE IT IS AND I
DON’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO BE LIKE SIMON THO I DO SO LOVE HIM BUT MAN STOP
THE BULLSHIT ON THE SHOW OR YOU ARE GOING TO LOSE YOU BEST FAN ME!
I agree with a lot of what youre saying. I thought this season was going to be one of the worst ever since the top 20 were chosen. The judges do suck except Keith. At least he doesnt make dunb remarks and repeat them over and over. What the heck is Mariahs #pow supposed to be. She was trying to start a new catchphrase that just fell flat. Nicki is rdiculous. She looks at keith like she has a major crush on him. I’m sure Ms Kidman isnt too worried. Randy is too predictable. Id love to see Simon come back. We’d probably have plenty to say about him but at least it would be fun. I just hope AI figure things out by next season and it goes back to when it was at its best.
Kwakwakwaakwaa,,,best fan? wht a JOKE