• In American Idol, the contestant wants to win and have a large number of adoring fans.
  In Twitter, the user wants a large number of adoring fans.




• In American Idol, the contestant is judged on how they perform and either kept in or voted out.
  In Twitter, the user is judged on the quality of their tweets, and is either followed or unfollowed.




• In American Idol, the contestant’s back-story brings the fans closer to them.
  In Twitter, the user’s web page and bio tell a story to their followers to help them decide to follow or not.




• In American Idol, several non-winners have gone on to make top billboard hits.
  In Twitter, I would dare say there are several non-Twitterati (50k+ followers) that are very successful.




• In American Idol, there’s always a few crazy contestants that you can’t stand (Tatiana anyone?).
  In Twitter, there are more than just a few – but the good thing is, you don’t have to follow them!

And Finally…


• In American Idol, millions of fans call in to vote for their favorite contestant.
  In Twitter, millions of users promote other users by retweeting and #followfriday’ing them. Hint Hint!

That’s a run-down of a few similarities that I found. Are there other similarities that I may have missed between the two? Does Twitter remind you of another show or event inside or outside the online realm?

And just a side note – I think Adam is walking away with it this year!