I deleted my Facebook groups to protect my community.

A couple of weeks ago, I set up two Facebook groups.

One was Avoiding Burnout - open to anyone never wants to experience burnout, or has and never wants to go back there.

The other was for the members of The Real Burnout Conversation.

I set them up exactly as I always have. BUT… Facebook has been making changes. And not all of them are helpful.

I suddenly started noticing people appearing in my private groups.

They weren't strangers, but people I know; people who follow me and are on my friends list.

And it turns out Facebook had been sending them invitations on my behalf, without me knowing.

I discovered this on Saturday morning, just as I was getting ready to head out for a local charity event I’d helped organise.

So, you can imagine my stress levels when I had absolutely no time to sit and work out what the hell was going on.

I put out a call for help instead and thankfully the responses were brilliant. Thank you if you were one of the people who offered advice and support.

Turns out, there’s a little toggle you need to switch off.

Does it clearly explain what it does?

Nope.

It actually looks like something you’d probably want switched on.

You don’t.

But for me, this wasn’t just about Facebook being annoying.

It made me stop and think about trust.

Because these are private groups.

There are conversations happening in there that are personal and confidential. There are Zoom links, resources and information specifically for the people who have chosen to be part of that community.

And that matters. Because, if you join a private group, you should be able to trust that it’s a space where you can have conversations you might not want to have on your professional profile for everyone to see.

Facebook groups are about building communities and it should be about bringing people together around a shared experience, interest or problem, creating somewhere people feel comfortable enough to ask questions, share honestly and sometimes just say, ‘Yep, me too.’

They shouldn't just be another place to broadcast everything you’d normally put on your profile.

So discovering that Facebook had been inviting people without me knowing really didn’t sit well with me.

Yesterday involved a fair bit of detective work, some frustration and finally getting everything sorted. The Avoiding Burnout group is now secure and ready for people who genuinely need it to join – and The REAL Burnout Conversation has now moved to

WhatsApp as we are sharing Zoom links of our sessions.

And this served as a timely reminder...

Sometimes when something suddenly feels harder than it used to, we immediately assume we're doing something wrong.

Maybe we're not.

Sometimes it’s worth asking What’s changed?

Whether it’s Facebook, your business, your marketing, your systems…or even you.

Sometimes something has quietly changed in the background.

And if this is something you need help uncovering, you know where I am.

And as for Facebook…

Well, Facebook might own the platform.

But the community? That’s ours to protect.