American Idol Voting Controversy - All's fair in love and texting?

The net is buzzing with news that fans of American Idol competitor Adam Lambert are upset because Kris Allen fans allegedly asked for and received assistance from AT&T which is the only mobile phone carrier to enable text voting for the popular show. Allen fans organized large viewing parties in Kris's home state of Arkansas. They invited local AT&T cell phone reps to attend since AT&T is a sponsor of the show. Pretty savvy, don't you think?

Considering the winner of the always controversial American Idol must be equally possessed of musical talent, mass audience appeal and business acumen, it sounds like the Allen camp simply took advantage of all of its resources.


AT&T is certainly not the only mobile phone provider to permit "power texting" which is the computer equivalent of sending a dozen email messages at the same time.This strategy has been used in seasons past and for many other reality shows like Dancing With The Stars which rely on viewer voting to determine the show's ultimate winner.

To give power texting a try, simply follow these easy steps:

1. create multiple contacts in your cell phone address book. For example, if you were voting for Simon Cowell, you
would create Simon1, Simon2, Simon3, etc.

2. create a distribution list (sometimes called a contact group) named for the project. In our example it might be Simon Wins. Add all of your Simon1, Simon2, Simon3, etc. contacts into this group.

3. add the appropriate voting number to each contact making sure to enter the number accurately. You don't want to spam anyone's phone!

4. now send the voting message ("vote" for American Idol, "888123" or whatever the assigned number is for DWTS) to your distribution list.

5. rinse and repeat for as long as your voting window is open.