So what is this “power texting” process, which is getting Adam Lambert fans and casual Idol viewers in a tizzy and resulting in claims that there’s a great AT&T-inspired conspiracy behind the results of this year’s American Idol? The name and the idea that reps from the company were out there giving classes on the process to Kris Allen fans makes it sound all exotic and secretive, but in reality, “power texting” involves little more than figuring out how to use a cell phone’s contact list function in order to create a distribution list, and putting the same short code (5701 et supra) on said list multiple times–then texting the word “VOTE” to it. Yeah, really, that’s it. If you don’t believe me, instructions on how to engage in this oh-so-scandalous practice–via oh hey what’s this, an Adam Lambert fan site–after the jump:

1. You are going to create ten contacts in your cell phone (Adam1, Adam2, Adam3, etc.).
2. Create a contact group (also known as a distribution list) and name it something like “Adam For The Win” and add your contacts (Adam1, Adam2, etc.) to the group. If you don’t know how to do that, check the manual for your phone or go to the AT&T Support Site
3. Add the voting number for Adam (570x) to each of the contacts. At this point Adam has two numbers, but you can ONLY text to the FIRST number (Adam’s performance order number). Do this during the show before the voting starts.
4. At the end of the show, send the message “vote” to your “Adam for the Win” contact group. This sends the message to the ten contacts at once. It will take a couple of seconds more than sending a single contact.
5. Now, resend or forward the same message to your contract group over and over for the next two hours.

So, yeah. That’s pretty much it. If you’re going to take the sponsors to task, at least maybe talk about how AT & T’s coverage actually does not provide more bars in more places in the Western part of the country? If anything, that’s the sort of embarrassing sponsor-related ranting that will get results.

POWER TEXTING WITH AT&T [adam-lambert.org]
Earlier: Idol Nontroversy Makes The Front Page Of The New York Times
[Thanks to undercooked for the AT&T coverage map]