A hiccup in the 'American Idol' social media experiment

Social networking is full of pot holes.

All of the twitter accounts and facebook fan pages for our season nine contestants have now been dumped and pushed to one single account.

This note was sent out facebook & twitter-wide this afternoon:

"Thanks so much for following me/joining my Fan Page! All my updates from now on will be on our Official American Idol 9 Contestant Page, please become a fan there to read all my updates throughout the season!"

A FOX publicist confirms that all contestants moved to a single group fan page, but couldn't elaborate more than that.

My own personal speculation is that since the number of fans and followers showed up on each person's page, it may have tainted the surprise factor. This new information had the potential to change the way the contest plays out. Basically viewers keeping tabs on the number of fellow fans may have been more or less compelled to call in and vote for their favorite.

The contestants will continue writing their own tweets and updates and will have equal opportunity to post to their hearts content.

And one last unrelated tidbit... a Crystal Bowersox update (via the new fb group page):
Don't worry, my 'beetus (diabetes) is under control. Thanks for all your well wishes, thanks to the boys, and the producers!! Can't wait to perform tonight.