Honolulu-Based Tech Writer is Lone Hawaiʻi Participant Selected for Facebook Initiative

A Honolulu-based tech journalist is one of 25 independent writers form across the country, and the only launch participant from Hawaiʻi, that have joined Facebook’s new Bulletin platform.

Facebook announced a $5 million commitment in April to support the Bulletin platform for writers, independent experts, and authoritative voices to find, build, and monetize their audience.

With experience in print, radio, television and online media, Ryan Kawailani Ozawa will publish “Hawaii Bulletin,” which will focus on island innovation. He will highlight Hawaiʻi-based science, technology, startups and entrepreneurs, and feature local leaders, creators, educators, and more, as well as indigenous knowledge and place-based initiatives.

“Bulletin combines the undeniable connective tissue that Facebook already provides for countless communities with something as simple and accessible as email,” Ozawa said. “This will hopefully give me a chance to be more personal, and perhaps more opinionated, than my old-school journalism training might otherwise dictate. I hope it will also allow readers to feel more personally connected to the stories I tell.”

Many creators already share their content and engage with audiences on Facebook. Bulletin provides a way for Facebook to support their work and businesses connecting readers to Bulletin publications and facilitating new relationships directly with writers.

Ozawa was selected to participate in the program, following an application process conducted in partnership with the International Center for Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

“With access to these services and the tools Bulletin offers for creating content, building engaged audiences, and generating revenue, we can better support writers in their efforts to build independent businesses, in turn helping them serve their communities and give people the local information so essential to their lives,” said Campbell Brown, VP of Facebook’s Global News Partnerships.

The product will continue to be free until 2023.