American Idol: Online Voting and Idol House?

American Idol announced today that for the first time, they will be allowing online voting. Viewers will be able to log on to the official AmericanIdol website via their Facebook accounts to cast their ballots beginning March 1. (Interesting, since Facebook is the competitor to Fox’s own Myspace.) Viewers will be able to log on immediately following the first performance show on March 1st, and will be allotted up to 50 votes per Facebook account. Expect a lot of Seacrest “record breaking vote” speeches.

Fans will continue to be able to vote via text message and toll-free phone lines of course.

Producers are also looking to add more behind-the-scenes elements this year, and have crafted ways for the singers to interact more with fans. Last we heard, Producers intended to have the Top 12 Finalists live together in a house in the Hollywood Hills. There, they would be allowed to chat with fans via Twitter. It is unknown if Idol will be showing footage from in the house yet, but it could add a bit more to the show, airing how the Idols tend to become a family, and personality clashes. They could even add some “Big Brotheresque” diary room elements if they wanted to, which could help provide more insight into the thoughts of the contestants. Whether they utillize the house elements remains to be seen.

What do you think? Will you vote online? Would you like more interaction with the singers via Twitter? Would you like to see them in their own “Diary Room”? Leave us a comment below! Don’t forget to join us tonight in the FORUM while we discuss the show, live, East Coast time!