vote by Twitter on X Factor

SIMON GETS SOCIAL: Starting next week, when voting begins, X Factor viewers will have the option of tweeting their votes to the show’s Twitter account, the N.Y. Times reports. According to the reporter Brian Seltzer, Simon Cowell pores over the tweets following each episode of the show and makes changes to his show accordingly. “It’s like having millions of producers working with you,” said Cowell, who once dismissed Twitter as a lightweight list of strangers’ lunch plans but who is now a convert. Furthering the Twitter connection, when Cowell and L.A. Reid disagree, viewers are encouraged to use the hashtag #SimonVsLA. In the Times story, Cowell also predicted that the audience for the show, which has drawn an average of 12.5 million viewers thus far, would grow now that the competition has moved past the taped audition stage. “When we go live,” he said, “I do think we’re going to see a real difference.” (10/26a)