Since it’s launch back in 2015, Pop Crave has been a go-to news outlet for music, celebrity, and pop-culture lovers around the world. The mostly anonymous organization made a name for itself on being a brand all about fast-paced social media-based news, catching attention with whatever it reports, but what is the true reason behind Pop Crave’s popularity?
Pop Crave’s founder was a college drop-out following a passion.
Back in the Summer of 2015, Will Cosme had just dropped out of his journalism major and was working at a Home Depot in Miami. On each lunch break, he would brainstorm business ideas. He planned his way into his own business and out of retail.
Unsure of where to start, Cosme decided to pair his love of pop culture and participating in fandoms with his understanding of journalism and reporting to create Pop Crave. When the idea popped into his mind, he wasted no time creating a slogan, logo, and Twitter account so he could start right away.
“Your Go-to Source for Pop Cultures News, Chart Updates, Music Releases & More” was the tagline Cosme created. He successfully kick-started what would become the Pop Crave it is today. As he was building his platform, Cosme continued to work as a store assistant to make ends meet.
It took Pop Crave over three years to become profitable. So from 2015 to 2018 meant a lot of hard work and dedication from Cosme in hopes of ever making it. Frequent breaks at work to scroll through social media was all he needed to do to finally break out of retail and start working solely on Pop Crave.
They consistently report faster than other publications.
Pop Crave first began on Twitter, the social media platform that limits all Tweets to 280 characters or less. This meant that all the news they reported on had to be short and to the point. They could only state the facts of the situation.
This focus on the short-form, straight-forward method of journalism gives Pop Crave a leg up on many other publications that typically release the same stories at a much slower rate. Using the content posted by celebrities and other sources on social media, the young publication prioritizes speed and a high volume of output in its attempt to solidify its place in journalism.
Pop Crave founder, Will Cosme, and his employees consider the site and its work a 24/7 gig. They have a level of dedication that few other publications can also claim. The media outlet has been known to post at all hours, day and night. The moment they get information, they report it.
Since starting their website, Pop Crave is also shifting focus to blog posts rarely exceeding 1,000 words. This allows them to write more in-depth pieces than what they can do on Twitter. But they can still keep spending their time on producing these articles down significantly.
Pop Crave heavily relies on Twitter and other social media platforms.
It’s easy to argue that without social media sites like Twitter and Instagram, Pop Crave would not exist. Before cultivating relationships with producers, songwriters, record label CEOs, and even a handful of star celebrities, Pop Crave got all its share-worthy news by scraping Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and whatever else it could get its hands on to keep itself in the know. Even the famous rapper, Cardi B, herself has shown her support for the media outlet through commenting on and sharing Cosme’s pieces on her own platforms. If a star posts something, even if for a brief moment, Pop Crave will be on it.
Their staff work for free.
Will Cosme continued working in retail through the first three years of building Pop Crave. His Co-Founder, Harry Johnson, also did the same, continuously sharing and posting content all throughout his workday. It wasn’t until 2018 that the pair decided to enlist the help of a mutual friend, Jericho Capio. to hop on board the Pop Crave team. Together, they turned Pop Crave into a legitimate, independent news organization.
From then on, Cosme began to recruit recent journalism graduates, fresh out of college to contribute to the platform. However, these recruits weren’t being offered a job, it was a volunteering opportunity.
According to Pop Crave’s LinkedIn profile, the team has grown to nine people. They work for the brand as if it were a “passion project” rather than a paid job. Though the outlet claims that people working for Pop Crave are “happy to build their portfolio and learn about entertainment media,” it is unclear if employees are paid through college credit and perks stated upon recruitment.
During the 2020 COVID pandemic, job searching was at a standstill. Writing for Pop Crave for free was the only thing keeping some of the organization’s members in the industry.
As Pop Crave continues to grow from the side project Cosme dreamt of in a Home Depot parking lot, it will gain more following and more momentum as the music industry continues to grow along with it. Now counting over 600k+ Twitter followers and even more on its other platforms, Pop Crave could change the music journalism industry as we know it.
Read Also:
Why Do We Try and Make Ourselves “pretty”?
