This article was first published on RNZ.
A project three years in the making, social media platform Tōku Whānau is close to being launched.
But it was not a Māori Facebook, creators BJ and Trevania Walbaekken reiterated, it was its own “ecosystem” that put Māori in front of their own data.
“We don’t need another Facebook with Māori labels. It has to be Māori-owned, Māori-run, and that’s why we’re talking to iwi, we turn around and say actually you’ve got to be driving this, it’s driven by the whānau,” BJ said.
While it gave people a safe and inclusive space to connect through sharing visuals, stories, and to tap into the digital side of te ao Māori, it was not exclusive to just Māori.
It was also a bilingual site between te reo Māori and English.
It could be used as a way to locate long-lost whānau and trace whakapapa.
Bj (Waikato-Tainui) has been in the IT industry for over 25 years, normally contracting and commuting from Waikato to Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and around the world, but his wife Trevania mentioned that she missed him being home.
“She challenged me to get something more local and I’m thinking well what do I do? I’ve got all these specialist skills,” he said.
Using their own resources and finances, the wedded pair cracked on with it.
“We’ve got a man here who can really build according to your taste,” Trevania said, so he “spearheaded and prototyped” it.
“We thought well if we’re going to do it, let’s do it with our own and that’s often the hardest - to do with your own friends and family - but actually they gave us a lot of feedback and we’ve just worked our way at it over the past three years.”
Trevania (Ngāti Kahungunu) is a kaiako Rūmaki of 20 years and is also the director for the project, favouring whakawhanaungatanga (creating relationships).
“[BJ’s] leading it and he’s the digitech guy but actually it takes the space of the both of us to get that seesaw - it can’t be too techy, can’t be too businessy or else you’ll miss the heart of it.”
The name Tōku Whānau derives from tōku meaning “mine”, and whānau being the whole community.
“And so we have the IP on Tōku Whānau that ensures we’re doing this the right way. It keeps us honest. It keeps us authentic because we don’t own tōku whānau, we are tōku whānau.
“It’s a very indigenous social platform, which has the potential to lead in Aotearoa New Zealand as well as the world.”
According to research by Meltwater/We Are Social, 79.1 percent of Kiwis were active social media users and spent an average of two hours and three minutes on social media networks each day.
That equated to 4.14 million active social media user identities in New Zealand in January 2025.
Tōku Whānau had morphed from the idea of a “Māori Facebook” to a “digital wharenui” with multiple platforms.
“A diverse rākau that has roots, that has branches. That’s what we can do with our Māori worldview. We see things like that, as well as other indigenous nations around the world,” Trevania said.
A side panel on the main page includes whakataukī o te rā and kupu o te rā, or sayings of the day.
“It’s uncovering all those hidden gems and then putting it within the layer that’s confident like with whānau that were native speakers and non-native speakers what we’re able to do to help those ones that weren’t speakers,” BJ said.
Tōku Whānau had a soft launch a few weeks ago with a turn out of 140 of the Walbaekken’s friends, whānau, and local businesses.
“We had full house marae styles all our whānau here and we actually put on a beautiful evening with kai, we celebrated who we are as Māori.”
It solidified their reasons for creating the socials site, for social media users and generations to come.
“We’re actually in the digital era, we’re in the Māori digital era, we will be part of those ushering, putting tikanga in place especially for youth and our young ones because they’re on these spaces and places - on instagram and tiktok - all over with nothing in place," Trevania said.
“If we don’t get in the front, we will actually just be left behind and we have the skills and expertise ... within our reach to do it, and that’s why we are moving.”
Tōku Whānau was not fully live yet, but people could sign up and navigate the platform.
By Emma Andrews of RNZ.
