For this week’s Deep Dive Series, we are interviewing Rogue!

@Rogue_ is a Clapper creator hailing from Australia. Her series Things You Didn’t Know About Australia But Pretended Like You Did is all about educating people about Australian history and culture. Her comedy never misses, and each of her videos is as entertaining as it is educational. In this interview, we discussed the evolution of her content, the differences between American and Australian content, her advice for new creators, and more!

Keep reading this Deep Dive Series to find out more about this creator’s fantastic story. Make sure to tune in every Thursday at 5pm CT on our @ClapperCreator account to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on our live radio show: Clapper Talks.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does a day look like in your life?

First and foremost, I’ve got three teenage boys. I’m a mother and that encompasses most of my day. And then I work a lot and work very hard, very long hours. After all of that is done, then it is…friends, family, out having an adventure, taking photos, or pressing the buttons on Clapper. It is busy, busy, busy days and you kind of just learn what needs to take priority. All of my content literally comes from something I’ve encountered in the day. It’s fresh, it’s raw, and it’s right there. I press the record button and whatever comes out, comes out and that’s what I’m posting. I’m not about to go back and fix it because I prefer it to be delivered as the real me.

So much of your content is about your home country of Australia. Tell us some of the cultural differences between Australian content creation and content in America.

When I say this, I want everyone to understand the fact that our time zone difference is huge. Currently, I’m sitting here at 10am on a Friday. Lets fast forward to your Friday night. I’ll watch a lot of Americans on their Friday night with the par-tay! Meanwhile, I’m searching for my soul at the bottom of a coffee cup because I’m hungover as shit. Then there’s the seasonal differences. When we come to Christmas time, everyone is looking all cute and adorable in their ugly sweaters. Meanwhile I’ve got a sweat mustache, swamp ass, and I’m about to give myself a Brazilian when I take off my reindeer outfit.

There is no alignment between the American content and the Australian content. The biggest thing I find coming out of America is that there’s just too much politics. We just don’t care about American politics and much prefer to see people actually being themselves rather than what society thinks they should be. I guess that’s the difference between us and what comes out of the US. Aussies, we don’t care enough to try that hard. I make the content for myself, to make myself laugh, to make myself happy, to achieve my goals. And I find the ones that are doing it for everyone else or what society thinks they should be doing, that’s not a passion. They’re going to burn out, they’re not going to be happy with that, and they’re not going to be a true content creator because they’re not going to be able to sustain it.

What are some misconceptions people have about Australia or Australians? Have you seen these misconceptions on Clapper?

Oh, that’s a risky question! Okay, here we go. This is actually one of the reasons why I started Things You Didn’t Know About Australia But Pretended Like You Did. It was all because of misinformation and misunderstandings of Australia and the Australian people. Like, we have guns here, the COVID camps never existed, and then you move onto things like…we don’t celebrate 4th of July or Thanksgiving. The list is endless and that’s why I started Things You Didn’t Know About Australia But Pretended Like You Did. The only way that people will learn is if someone is willing to educate them. A lot of the things that I do are very basic, kindergarten versions of the stories, but at least it’s opening the lines of communication.

Yes, I have seen these misconceptions on the app. Approximately March last year, the amount of trolling and hate, just because we were Australian and the misinformation that has been spread, is atrocious. They’ve seen it somewhere else on social media so it must be true, even though they’ve never even visited this fine nation. And the Aussies have just taken it. We’ve been silent about it and nice about it, but it came to a point where we had to say something and had to do something about it. It’s sad to say, but also it is a societal issue, that people believe all these things that they see on social media.

Your most famous series (which we’ve already talked about quite a bit) is Things You Didn’t Know About Australia But Pretended Like You Did. And how do you choose these topics?

That’s a really great question! I’m aware of a lot of different topics, and a lot of the time I focus on the history of Australia. It generally comes from comments on my videos or conversations I’ve had in a Livestream.

For example, I was chatting with another creator about ‘the dingo ate my baby’. I don’t think many people were aware that there was actually a baby that was taken by a dingo, and her name was Azaria. And the parents (the mother in particular) spent time in prison for murder. It’s a controversial subject for Australia— it’s one of the most controversial criminal cases in Australian history.

I was planning on staying away from that, but I decided to educate anyone foreign to Australia so they’re aware there was more to the story. It’s about changing the mindsets of people through education and delivering these segments.

Your content is so funny! Even when you’re explaining something about Australia. Did you ever explore comedy before social media content?

I’ve been asked this question quite a lot of times. My problem is I’m old and I’ve got a bad back, so I don’t like standing up. When they do invent sit down comedy, perhaps then I’ll start thinking about doing it. But I don’t see myself as humorous, I don’t come with any jokes. This is just me.

We noticed in your 2022 content that talked about gardening and growing your own food. How did you begin gardening? Is this something we can hope to see more of in 2023?

Technically I’m a horticulturist by trade, so that’s what I do in my work-life. The whole gardening and the vegetable thing was just for educational purposes because I found that a lot of people aren’t aware of certain steps when it comes to gardening. I don’t know whether I’ll get back into it! I’m kind of scared of it now because I regrew a carrot and it got 12 million views and everyone’s talking to me in French… I just don’t know whether I’m cut out to be a gardener on the internet.

I will say, if anyone does have any horticultural questions, I’m happy to help. It’s a lot of hard work, so if someone isn’t willing to get their hands dirty, then just don’t do it. It’s not worth the deflation at the end when nothing happens for you.

So, when did you join Clapper? How did your journey as a creator begin?

I joined end of March, early April 2021. I came with a group of ladies from another app, so I could be involved and engaged with their Livestreams. But they’re American and had to go to bed, so I was sitting by myself, twiddling my thumbs. Then my ADHD kicked in and I was an unsupervised Australian and I couldn’t resist but press every single button in front of me. If anyone was there on that first day, I just want to apologize for me jumping around like a kangaroo in all those Livestreams! Then I decided to upload a video on that same night which is…the most disastrous video ever.

I made a decision when I came here that I was going to be me. And deliver me wholly and solely, the perfectly imperfect that I am, and that’s what I did. When I joined Clapper I was in a bad place. It was time to recreate myself and find that spark within and be able to laugh at myself again. And now here we are today! It’s been a phenomenal experience from start to finish.

We scrolled through quite a lot of your content and saw that your style has evolved so much! Can you tell us more about your content style in beginning and why (or how) it’s changed?

In the beginning it was very much “push the button, g’day I’m here, I don’t really have much to say, thanks for listening, bye”. Then it changed into “I have a little to say, I want to rant about whatever is going on, maybe try and inspire and uplift people.” And then it morphed into “I’m Australian and I’m going to stand up for my country”, which grew into ‘“this is what Australia looks like, isn’t she beautiful, I love this unbound country.” And then it turned into “I need to start educating people, otherwise they’re never going to learn.”

I never looked back after Things You Didn’t Know About Australia But Pretended Like You Did. I had no idea that it would turn into what it has and I’m very grateful that people enjoy it. And I don’t see myself swaying from it. I mean, I did a Things You Didn’t Know About Women But Pretended Like You Did, and I don’t know whether I’m going to go down that line again.

What do you enjoy most about Clapper? In what ways do you feel like Clapper needs improvement?

The first answer has actually changed. Previously it was watching people’s content, but it has actually changed to the interactions that we have in Livestreams. This is partially due to the other Australians that are on here. We manage to sit down and have a laugh at the end of the day, we talk about deep topics, we cry on each other’s shoulders. The shenanigans that we do in the Livestreams is probably my favorite part of the app.

Now the second part…at the end of the day, the app is us, the content creator. I’m grateful and thankful for everything all of you do and I know how much hard work it must be. But there’s a lot of movements that involve a lot of creators asking for improvement and change.

I think they need to be listened to, because we’re asking for certain functionalities and we are the ones that use the app. An example is making things more available to time zones outside of the US. We have to work double as hard to get our points across, to get our content out there. We’re having to give up work commitments, social commitments, family commitments, just to be part of the app trends. So I would say stay true to the mission statement and listen to us. Because we are the app, not you.

What advice would you give new users that want to be successful on Clapper?

Just be you. It’s that simple. Be yourself, because if you’re faking it you’re never going to make it. If you’re faking it then you have to keep up that fake and that’s just exhausting. Be you and we will love you for whoever you are and whatever you deliver.

Number two, be social. Support people, engage with people. It’s called social media for a reason. If you’re sitting back in a corner and never talking to anyone, you’re never going to get anywhere because you’re not working for it. Start being social, start communicating with people. You’re never going to get along with everyone and that’s fine, that’s the way the world works. But don’t let it get you down.

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We hope you enjoyed getting to know @Rogue_. For our latest deep dive on @Beatspeare read here.