"I'm sure more people have seen our work on social media than they had on the channel - and they give comments and feedback," she said.
"We're optimistic, and we're still playing around ... it's been really neat, and a learning curve."
Videos posted are less than three minutes long and the page also links to other news sources, including the Rotorua Daily Post.
TV Rotorua's parent company, Television Media Group, announced the station's closure on April 24. But Ms Tatere suggested the writing had been on the wall up to six months prior, when management first started to make cutbacks.
The station's final broadcast went out April 30, but staff were retained until last Friday to help wind down operations.
Ms Tatere and Graeme Jones, City News' veteran cameraman, agreed that station management had been helpful since the closure announcement, offering help to staff who found themselves forced to look for new employment.
Television Media Group chief executive Daryl Anderson said yesterday that most staff had found new jobs by this point, but there were "still a couple that we need to help find some placement".
As part of the closure, equipment from the TV Rotorua studios had been offered for sale to staff at discounted prices - equipment now being used to produce content for the Facebook channel.
"We go out and film with proper equipment, and we've got presenters we can call on," Mr Jones said. "It's all done properly.
The questions remains whether Rotorua City News can overcome the barrier that proved too much for the defunct Freeview channel - the lack of money available for regional broadcasting.
Ms Tatere said there had been some discussions with government funding agency NZ on Air, which has funded City News in the past, about the possibility of support for the new project.
But for now, the main goal was growing an audience on the new medium, a challenging task, but an enjoyable one.
