As this year’s American Idol’s season hits its crescendo, we thought it would be fun to look at the pop culture phenomenon through the lens of the Vitrue Social Media Index (SMI) to see who is most popular on the social web.
Using the Vitrue SMI we have looked at major events before from the Oscars to the NCAA tourney to the Presidential election. Based upon previous contests and events, the Vitrue SMI can be quite a predictive tool, modeling social mentions.
We have been tracking the final contestants to see who is being most talked about on the social web (from photo and video sharing sites, to social networks to microblogs and in the general blogosphere). Out of the remaining three contestants, Adam Lambert has a crushing lead, followed by Danny Gokey and then Kris Allen.
Tonight we see them in head to head performances and tomorrow we will learn their fate. Who will remain? According to the SMI – Adam is a shoe-in and is really slated to win the whole thing while the battle for second place looks heated.
We also wanted to look at the judges to see who is most talked about on the social web. Far and away Paula Abdul is currently most popular but her huge upswing has only come in the past few weeks. Before Paula’s surge, Simon lead, followed by Randy and then Kara.
And not to leave Ryan out, we did rank the top social celebs and you can find that summary in our blog post, Hollywood Goes Social.
Finally we see the term ‘American Idol’ itself as a hugely popular topic with current SMI scores in the 3,000 range.
The show’s three key sponsors of AT&T, Coke and Ford were all listed in the Vitrue 100 (top social brands of 2008). Clearly these brands know how to hook into what is relevant, what is now and what is creating compelling conversations.
Who are you cheering for? We would love to know who you want to win and what you think social media has to do with it.
You’re right. Adam is the clear winner. His talent surpasses everyone else on the stage!