The American Idol contestants are allowed to use Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace this year as Idol finally comes into the 21st century and embraces social networking. Of course, the results are homogonized and bland due to Idol's tight grasp. VFTW reader Mikey sent us an interesting e-mail comparing the times that the various contestants post on their Twitter. For example, on February 18th, all of the contestants posted between 6:48 PM and 7:11 PM. The pattern continues each day. All of the contestants post within the same half hour window. This tells us that the contestants are either forced to tweet at the same time each day, or more likely, a production assistant or someone is required to update the contestant Twitters with random stuff. How non interesting.

TheTVAddict.com also anaylzed the contestants' social media to see who is the most popular. Not surprisingly, Andrew Garcia is in the #1 spot. Rounding out the top 5 are John Park, Tyler Grady, Tim Urban, and Aaron Kelly. The least friended contestant is Michelle Delamor, so we'll probably be saying goodbye to her on Thursday. These stats only take into account Idol fans that use social media, but it's probably a good thing to take into account.

Idol Maniac has the complete top 24 over at IdolForums. Since the site is for members only, here is your top 24 for American Idol 9. We'll preview the contestants we haven't mentioned yet in future posts.

1. Aaron Kelly

2. Andrew Garcia

3. Alex Lambert

4. Ben Honeycutt

5. Casey James

6. Chris Golightly

7. Jermaine Sellers

8. John Park

9. Joe Munoz

10. Lee DeWyze

11. Michael Lynche

12. Tyler Grady

13. Ashley Rodriguez

14. Crystal Bowersox

15. Didi Benami

16. Haeley Vaughn

17. Janell Wheeler

18. Katelyn Epperly

19. Katie Stevens

20. Lacey Brown

21. Lilly Scott

22. Michelle Delamor

23. Paige DeChausse

24. Siobhan Magnus

JoesPlace has a few more updates today. Artheria La'Bry (Theiry Harden) has made the top 48 (woo hoo!). Other top 48 contestants not previously announced: Bosa Mora, Charity Vance, Lilly Scott, and Tyler Grady. Brittany Starr James was cut during the chair episode. No word yet on Ben Honeycutt.

Michelle Delamor has made the top 24. Seems Idol likes its curly haired chicks this season. She performed in the South Florida Summerfest 2008 with Colby O'Donis, who is signed to Akon's record label. Due to the preview above, we're thinking Idol is going to pimp the hell out of her soon enough, so stay tuned for that.