This year's X Factor finalists have been announced - the 16 singers and acts that will compete in the live TV shows from now until Christmas.
Following on from my post on the websites for Apprentice contestants, I thought it would be interesting to look at the social media presence for each of the finalists. Just as it was pretty clear that someone who was self-employed would win The Apprentice (because Sugar wanted someone he could go into business with, not someone he could employ) I think that the level of understanding and competence in social media will be one of the 'factors' determining success in the competition (which has a public vote each week, and is effectively a popularity contest for a lot of the time). As well as doing the 'please phone for me' mime, contestants can now fire out messages live through their networks. The success of many of today's biggest stars who made it without a talent contest, from Lady Gaga to Lily Allen to Justin Bieber to the Arctic Monkeys has been partly attributed to their use of social media.
It's also a good way of illustrating the importance of social media today. 5 years ago contestants were pretty much at the mercy of their managers and the media; now they have their own voice. If any brands doubt the point of having a social media presence, watch how this series develops.
(All I have done is search Twitter & Facebook. I may have the wrong accounts in some cases - please level any corrections or updates in the comments)
So here we go:
The Girls:
Misha Bryan - Twitter - Facebook
Janet Devlin - Twitter - Facebook
It's also worth noting that Janet Devlin has a very popular YouTube channel, and was a minor YouTube star before she appeared on The X Factor
Sophie Habibis - Twitter (not found) - Facebook
Amelia Lily - Twitter - Facebook
The Boys:
Frankie Cocozza - Twitter - Facebook (not official)
(Frankie has by far the highest number of Twitter followers, at over 120,000. He clearly 'gets it', and whether he succeeds in the competition or not, he's building a very useful base of contacts. Whatever happens, he owes Ev and Biz a very large drink. He doesn't seem to bother with Facebook as far as I can tell - the account is run by his fans)
Marcus Collins - Twitter - Facebook
Craig Colton - Twitter - Facebook
James Michael - Twitter (not found) - Facebook (not official)
The Over 25s:
Sami Brookes - Twitter - Facebook
Kitty Brucknell - Twitter - Facebook (not official)
Jonjo Kerr - Twitter - Facebook
Johnny Robinson - Twitter - Facebook
The Groups:
The groups have a bit of a quandary - some have a 'group account', esp. on Facebook, some have individual Twitters, some have group Twitters.
2 Shoes - Twitter (not found) - Facebook (not official)
Rhythmix - Twitter (Jade) - Twitter (group) - Facebook
Nu Vibe - Twitter (Jordan) - Facebook
The Risk - Twitter (Charlie) - Twitter (Andi) - Twitter (Derry) - Twitter - (group) - Facebook
Let battle commence!
1 comment:
Dan, Since you posted, you might have seen the furore over the name of the girl band. There is a fantastic music charity for kids based in Brighton called Rhythmix. They asked XFactor to change the name of the band for obvious reasons, and they were effectively told to get lost and get a lawyer. They can be found at @rhythmixmusic. I know the boss of the charity. A good guy who tried to get this resolved the calm and quiet way. Sadly, Syco's reps didn't deal with it in the same way. Jon Morter of RATM campaign fame, amongst others, is backing the charity's cause. Thought I would let you know.
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