User:Shahmalinda/sandbox

Popspoken is a Singapore pop-culture publication consisting of a news and features website, a Tumblr blog and a digital magazine hosted on Issuu. It was formerly a duo-contributor blog. It is billed by Singapore events blog Singapore Things To Do Today as a site that "feed(s) your kaypoh minds with the most newsy facts on what’s in, what’s out & what’s really going on with your favourite artistes & people".

It was launched on 29th March 2011 by Sadali Mawi and Shah Malinda. The publication covers Singapore, Asian and international happenings in music, movies, showbiz, television, fashion, nightlife and the arts. It publishes aggregated content from international entertainment and fashion sites with added commentary in its articles. It also provides reportage for several Singapore lifestyle events and festivals such as Asia Fashion Exchange, Men's Fashion Week Singapore and Women's Fashion Week, notably providing columns for such events during the period they are running. Popspoken is managed by chief editor Sadali Mawi and co-editor and marketing & communications director Shah Malinda. It currently has 16 editorial staff.

=History=

March 2011: Inception
On 29th March 2011, Popspoken was launched as a duo-contributor blog on Wordpress, with an initial focus towards news and commentary in international entertainment and buzzed-about topics in Singapore's social media sphere. It was co-edited by Sadali Mawi and Shah Malinda. The blog also featured an "Editor's Note" column contributed by both co-editors, but not written collaboratively.

The blog adopted the upside-down ampersand as its vertical logo and its typeface as its horizontal logo. In the latter, the first letter 'O' is replaced with the upside-down ampersand.

March-May 2011: Expansion of editorial scope & team
During March to May 2011, Popspoken was joined by 20 writers/bloggers. They included Farhan Shafie and Julailah Lucker who formed a duo writing team called Mr & Mrs Ravenous, as well as blogger Rynaque who specialised in social media coverage. Popspoken expanded its editorial scope to fashion reportage, including covering Asia Fashion Exchange and Men's Fashion Week Singapore 2011, as well as providing columns for such events on its masthead. The blog also specified its entertainment coverage into beats in movies, music and television. It also further separated its beats into local news and international news.

Zakk and Ryhan joined Popspoken as event photographers on April 2011. Since officially entering the blog, Popspoken stylised the photographers' names by only referring to them in first name. The stylisation has stayed till present.

In May 2011, Mandy Chng and Dian Marissa were appointed Sub-Editors of Popspoken. Also, Sadali Mawi was promoted to Chief Editor whereas Shah Malinda was appointed Marketing and Communications Director. Shah still kept the position of Co-Editor. Zakk was also appointed Head Photographer.

May-October 2011: Editorial team revamp and column streamlining
More than 10 writers left Popspoken or were appointed as contributors for various reasons. Mandy Chng left the Sub-Editor position in September 2011, followed by Dian Marissa in October 2011 who now remains as a writer. As of present, there are no sub-editors in Popspoken. The writing team stabilised in late October to include a new batch of writers. Beat positions were dissolved in October 2011, thus enabling writers to straddle between beats.

In June 2011, the social media beat was taken off Popspoken and new beats in the arts and nightlife were introduced. In October 2011, local and international beats were merged into single beats on movies, music, fashion and television. Popspoken was rebranded into a multi-contributor entertainment and lifestyle blog with a strong emphasis on fashion reportage. It was listed on e-commerce site Runaway Singapore as part of 15 lifestyle websites 'emerging in the online market'.

October 2011-present: Launch of Popspoken.com, Tumblr blog and Popspoken Magazine
In late October 2011, Popspoken moved to its own domain. Its main site is now referred to as Popspoken.com. In November 2011, it launched its Tumblr blog and appointed Syairah Azhari as Social Buzz Director in-charge of Popspoken's social media presence and content curation. Furstinna Adawiyah was also given an added appointment as Marketing & Communications Executive.

In late December 2011, Popspoken launched its debut digital magazine called Popspoken Magazine. The magazine features Popspoken's upside-down ampersand logo on the top-left corner of its cover. The name Popspoken Magazine is not referred to in the magazine or on its cover. Its first edition was a Christmas special. Zakk was appointed as creative director for this issue, whereas Gayathiri Chan and Furstinna Adawiyah were appointed as stylists.

The release date of its second edition and the magazine's publishing schedule is as yet unannounced.

=Content & Editorial Style= Popspoken adopts a snarky and witty style of reporting, with opinionated statements interspersed in its articles. It adopts a conversational tone in its writing. In some articles or social media mentions, it uses the hashtag '#hotanddangerous' and, in some fashion articles, the sign-off 'xx'. Popspoken latches onto current entertainment topics such as Lady Gaga and Glee and tracks their news. It was the first publication to break the news of couturier Stéphane Rolland expressing interest in setting up a flagship for his ready-to-wear boutique line in Singapore.

Key business clients include H&M, Fred Perry, Lomography Singapore and PARCO next NEXT at Millenia Walk.

=See also=
 * Fashion week
 * Online magazine
 * Haute couture

=References=

=External links=
 * Popspoken.com
 * Popspoken's Facebook page
 * Popspoken's Twitter page
 * Popspoken's Tumblr blog
 * Popspoken's Issuu online magazine page