'We have no sleep': What it's like to run a round-the-clock celebrity fan page

'We have no sleep': What it's like to run a round-the-clock celebrity fan page

He's a researcher for the social media account Buzzing Pop, which has 250,000 followers on X and posts round-the-clock news and gossip about the biggest celebrities in the world.

A quick scroll through Buzzing Pop's page reveals a video of Lady Gaga checking on a photographer who's fallen over on the red carpet, a list of Justin Bieber albums that have suddenly returned to the chart, and a snippet from Zara Larsson's viral appearance on podcast Call Her Daddy.

"We're always keeping up - it's crazy but we love it," says Jay. "We are so passionate".

Jay is part of a new generation of social media creators whose job it is to provide constant updates on fans' favourite film, TV and music stars. These pages cover everything from glam red carpet appearances to micro-updates on who stars have unfollowed or how many people have streamed their new single.

"We don't see ourselves as traditional journalists," says Jay, "but there's a responsibility once you have a large audience."

He says the team sources updates from reputable media publications such as Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter but does also receive anonymous tip-offs.

"We have to check the source to see if there's credibility behind it," he adds, "because people do send in random things."

Accounts such as Buzzing Pop and Pop Crave, which has more than three million followers on X, aggregate showbiz news updates, while another popular page, Deux Moi, provides almost hourly celebrity gossip to more than two million followers on Instagram.

There are pages dedicated to providing updates on individual celebrities, TV shows, films or music artists, with pages for stars like Zendaya, Selena Gomez or BTS sometimes racking up millions of followers.

Andrei Ciprian, 28, runs a Taylor Swift updates page, which has nearly two million followers across X, Instagram and TikTok.

He started the page to document the nightly goings-on of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and tells the BBC he would spend six hours a day writing posts from his home in Romania "waking up in the morning when there were shows in the US to make sure I could announce to all my followers the surprise songs [she would perform] and any special guests".

Andrei says he also kept fans updated on which celebrities were watching the show in the VIP area and the variations he noticed in Taylor Swift's costumes during each show.

Even now the tour is over, he still posts every day, fitting this around shifts at the hotel where he works.

"I love her," he says, "and I like to make sure her fans are updated with everything."

Engagement numbers on accounts providing celeb news updates are huge - with posts attracting thousands or even millions of views, likes and comments.

While the majority of posts use information that is already out there, like interview clips, photoshoots and social media screenshots, some accounts are intruding on stars' private lives too.

"Social media update accounts have taken what was once quite niche behaviour and made it very public, very mainstream and very intense at scale," says Dr Georgia Carroll, an expert in fandom and fan engagement.

In years gone by she says "a small community of fans would go and hang outside individuals' houses or places they frequented" but now, speculation about stars' whereabouts "is blasted to everybody".

In some cases, interest in the lives of famous people has bled into intrusion, according to Claire Powell, a celebrity publicist who has spent more than 30 years in the industry.

"It's really hard for the [celebrity] because there's no let up," she says.

Some update accounts will post videos of celebrities walking down the street, browsing shops or sitting in restaurants, while others will share selfies with fans and information on that person's location.

Powell says clients will often tell her: "I step out my front door and everyone's following me".

The publicist believes relationships between celebrities and traditional paparazzi photographers are more mutual and transactional, compared to some of the newer forms of fan surveillance.

"[The media] want the picture, they want the coverage," she says, "but then also the celebrity needs that as well."

Powell believes the appetite for constant updates on celebrities' lives comes from the lack of "personal connection" fans now feel with the stars they adore.

She started her career on the road with Take That in the 1990s and says "you had to go and meet people, do signings and have the physicality of seeing, touching and being with your fans".

But now, she says, "signings or intimate shows don't happen so much, so fans don't have the closeness they used to have years ago".

But what's in it for the people who work long hours maintaining these accounts?

Platforms such as X and TikTok do offer financial renumeration to verified accounts who receive a lot of engagement. But Andrei says he doesn't earn anything from his posts and that his main hope is to one day work for Taylor Swift.

He says he started his fan account to "feel a bit closer" to the star, adding "I got likes from Taylor Swift, follows from her dancers and her team".

Jay says the Buzzing Pop team, which consists of five people, "do get paid", but he says they mostly do it "for the love of the game" and juggle the work with other jobs.

And while Buzzing Pop is not dedicated to a single celebrity or music artist, Jay says his team works hard to keep their posts "neutral and informative".

He also shares his pride in revealing that artists such as Tate McRae, SZA and Ariana Grande have interacted with the account.

"[It's a way for] fans to be in their space and have their fandom acknowledged," she adds.

Are fans any more obsessed with their idols now than they were in the past, thanks to social media? Long-time publicist Powell isn't convinced.

"With some of my clients, fans would hang onto cars, lay in front of you, find out what hotels [we were staying at] and have groups on their phones.

"They are still the same but they've just got this way of interacting in a much quicker way."