Online Voting Comes to "Idol"

The rumors have finally been confirmed…

For the first time ever, you can vote for your favorite “Idol” online, but you’ll need a Facebook account to do it.

Votes can still be made via phone and by text for AT&T wireless customers.

To vote online, you’ll need to go to AmericanIdol.com and follow the directions to log in to your Facebook account and vote.

Creator and Executive Producer Simon Fuller said in a press release, “We have been wanting to do online voting for several years, and now Facebook has offered us a secure solution and we are ready to go. The show has always involved a high level of engagement with its viewers through texting and phone voting, and it’s great to expand on this tradition.”

This move is interesting for two reasons. Number one, the announcement comes just days after a “Hollywood Reporter” story that “The X Factor” was looking to use Facebook for online voting. The other interesting thing is that FOX is owned by News Corp., which owns Facebook rival, MySpace. By going with Facebook over MySpace, it’s almost like MySpace is surrendering, isn’t it?

Online voting begins Tuesday night…