The BIG Announcement!

Okay, well, it's not the BIG announcement, as in, the Top 12 (which will be on September 20th). But it's almost just as important!

You all know how much we love throwing in twists around here, right? Well auditions aren't even over, but we're already giving you one.

There is NOT going to be a Top 12 this year.

Yes, you read that right.

You see, we love that you guys have been sending so much love our way, in the form of blog comments, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers, that we are going to pay back the love.

Instead of just having a Top 12, we are going to have a Top 13! The Top 12 will be chosen as normal, based on the judges scores from their auditions, and then we are going to chose a 13th person, who didn't really rank up there, but that we can tell has an awesome bunch of followers. How do we know how awesome your followers think you are? Because they have been plastering our Facebook wall, and tweeting our butts off, and we can tell that they REALLY want you to be the next Blogger Idol. We figure this is fair because, even though you may not have had the best audition, we can tell that people love you, and we feel like we should give you a shot if that many people are passionate about you.

So what do you do now? If you haven't auditioned yet, GET ON IT! Auditions close on September 17th, which is a week from today. Once you've sent in your audition, mobilize your troops, and get your name plastered all over our blog, Facebook, and Twitter! Make sure we hear about how awesome you are from your fans!

Ready... Set... GO!

FINE PRINT: The contestants will not know which one of the Top 13 was the wildcard. The wildcard will be chosen by the judges, from all those who have given a clear social presence, and will not necessarily be the person who has the highest amount of people talking about them.

Auditions are OPEN!

You've been eyeing the prizes, kissing up to the judges, and now... It's GO TIME! Auditions are open for Blogger Idol 2012!

It doesn't matter how big your blog is. It doesn't matter how old your blog is. The only thing that matters is that you can entertain us. We've got a scoring system in place that ensures that this is not a popularity contest, so it doesn't matter how many fans you have. For all the details on how to audition, check out the Try Out page.

Auditions will close at 11:59 PM CST on Monday, September 17, 2012, and the Top 12 will be announced on September 20, 2012. You can find the full schedule here.

Are you going to audition? If you aren't going to audition, who are you rooting for? If you know a blogger that deserves the title of Blogger Idol, send them over here!

We are proud to have IZEA as a sponsor for Blogger Idol 2012!

IZEA: Social Influence At-Scale

IZEA is the pioneer of social media sponsorship (SMS), with marketplaces for brands and publishers to connect. Their network of 850,000 registered influencers in 147 countries and 50,000 advertisers have completed over three million sponsorships. 

What is SMS?

SMS is when bloggers, tweeters and other social media influencers are compensated to create and distribute advertising content through their social network. 

Learn More

IZEA has a number of platforms that allow social media publishers to monetize their content.

SponsoredTweets - (Sponsored Twitter Updates) Connect directly with advertisers who compensate tweeters with cash in exchange for a tweet. There are PayPerClick and PayPerPost opportunities. 

SocialSpark - (Sponsored Blog Posts) A premium marketplace where advertisers compensate you for blog posts about their products or services on your own blog. Advertisers offer "opportunities" and bloggers of the option of accepting, declining or negotiating with them. Now, SocialSpark connects with Pintrest, Facebook and Twitter, giving bloggers opportunities to earn even more for their influence. 

Staree - (Sponsored Photos & Videos) Join Staree and earn income from display advertising targeted to your content and product placement in photos and videos. (It's like Instagram, except you get paid. And, you can download photo props like bacon (yes, bacon!), hats and mustaches to make your photos even more fun and sharable!)  

IZEA Media - (Display Advertising) An exclusive network that complements sponsored posts to create increased earning potential for bloggers. It's hand-selected based on a blogger's content and reach.

Get Started

Get started today by selected the platform above, or visiting http://izea.com/influencers/. 

You can also download a PDF overview about IZEA.