The MUMSNET Publish Parental Leave Campaign

The MUMSNET Publish Parental Leave Campaign

*Not an ad – just something I feel passionately about*

If you were offered a new job tomorrow, could you be confident that you were making the right decision for you and your family?

Looking for a new job when you have children or are planning to increase the size of your family in the not so distant future can be tough. Not only can the interview process itself be stressful but it can be difficult to get all the information you need in order to make the right choice, as despite the gender pay gap, very few companies are completely transparent when it comes to their pay, benefits and parental leave packages.

In their latest campaign, Publish Parental Leave, Mumsnet are calling for all employers to share their parental leave policies for all potential applicants to see, including maternity, paternity and adoption leave. At a minimum this should include the number of weeks paid and what proportion of their usual salary the employee can expect to receive. As a HR Advisor by day and someone who has been through statutory maternity leave twice, this is something I am completely behind.

The Parental Leave Dilemma

When you’re applying for a new job there are lots of things you may take into account. The obvious things are the starting salary, location and the benefits package, including flexible working, working from home, healthcare, pension, and holiday entitlement. Chances are, most of this will be discussed with you at interview or offer stage, allowing you to make a relatively informed decision about whether or not this is the right career move for you. You can weigh up the pros and cons, look at the net difference on your take home and in general, calculate whether or not the overall package is competitive for you and your family’s requirements.

Shared Parental Leave

However, what if you plan to have another baby any time soon?

When it comes to parental leave, maternity pay and the finer details of these policies, many businesses choose not to publish this information online or at interview, making it very difficult to decide if the move is actually a good choice.

But why should this be the case?

Your current employer may offer a very strong enhanced maternity package, whereas the prospective employer may only offer statutory maternity pay. The impact could be pretty significant and is therefore a crucial part of your decision, but most people understandably don’t feel comfortable dropping out this question at the end of an interview.

When I fell pregnant with Erin, it all happened very quickly, and because having a family wasn’t at the forefront of my mind (in any shape or form) when I applied for the job, I didn’t even give their maternity packages a second thought. Suddenly however I was faced with a statutory only maternity leave policy, something which had a significant impact on my take home pay. After 6 weeks at 90% of my normal salary, my pay dropped hugely meaning money was pretty tight! If you are a high earner, the drop to statutory maternity pay which is currently just £148.68 per week, is something that ideally needs to be prepared for, to enable budgeting and planning but there is a complete lack of transparency in most cases.

Mumsnet is calling for employers to make this small cost free change and in a similar way to their gender gap reporting, providing public accountability for their policies and allowing applicants to make informed decisions.

In their recent survey, 91% of Mumsnet respondents supported the proposal, with 8 out of 10 stating they weren’t willing to ask about parental leave policies at interview for fear of making a job offer less likely.

Mumsnet’s research found that currently only 23 of FTSE 100 companies publish their policies online, with many simply referring to them as “Generous” or “Competitive”. Since Mumsnet got in touch, 8 have agreed to actively review their policies, 12 have plans to publish in the near future,and 3 have since published theirs as a result of the campaign – well done Mumsnet!

I really hope that employers start to review their parental leave policies and publish them for all to see, allowing us to celebrate policies that are inclusive to both male and female employees, and encouraging other employers to do the same. Not only will this help produce a more supportive culture for working parents, but with both parents wanting to take leave in order to help raise their family, this would be a great potential way to help close the gender pay gap.

Does your employer share the information? If you feel comfortable doing so, why not ask your employer whether they have any plans to change this? 

The MUMSNET Publish Parental Leave Campaign

How to Perfect Your Flexible Working Request

#ad This is a collaborative post

Those of you who read the blog regularly will know that in addition to my blog, I have a day job in Human Resources, and am pretty passionate about work life balance and helping parents, Mums in particular, back to the workplace after having children. Over recent years there has been a slow but steady shift of acceptance towards flexible working, with many women, like myself putting in a flexible working request on their return from maternity leave.

I was incredibly lucky that my flexible working request was accepted on returning from maternity leave, and that I have since gone on to find a part time job that perfectly suits my needs – but unfortunately many are not so lucky. Ultimately, the employer still has a business to run, and has to ensure that the needs of that business are met whilst at the same time attempting to be flexible around your personal circumstances. Having seen a fair few flexible working applications in my time, I thought it may be useful to share my hints and tips on how to perfect your flexible working request.

For transparency – I should include a bit of a disclaimer here – whilst I work in HR by day, I can take no responsibility for any actions taken as a result of my advice, and as such, PLEASE do your own research. The guidelines I outline apply to the UK only, and different rules apply within Northern Ireland and Europe. There are lots of things to think about when changing or reducing your hours, including your eligibility for tax credits – if in doubt, please contact Child Tax Credit customer services for advice based on your individual circumstances.

First a bit of background…

Making a statutory application for Flexible Working

Employees must have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks to be eligible for flexible working. Due to changes in the legislation, flexible working no longer just applies to parents (it used to be only for those with children under  the age of 16 or 18 if that child was disabled). Now, anyone can request flexible working, opening it up to a much wider pool – including those with other commitments such as caring responsibilities or simply a busy social schedule! 🙂

What does flexible working mean?

Essentially, flexible working can be anything that isn’t the standard contractual working week. There are, however, lots of ways in which flexible working can manifest itself.

Types of flexible working include:

  • Job share – splitting hours between 2 people
  • Working from home or an alternative place of work
  • Part time – less than full time hours (usually shorter number of days each week or hours per day)
  • Compressed working week – working full time hours over a smaller number of days
  • Flexitime – chose start and end times within agreed limits (e.g. 8-10am start, 4-6 pm finish)
  • Annualised Hours-  set number of hours each year but flexible
  • Term Time only – ideal for working parents, working days mirror the school term. More common in public sector or education settings.

Applying for flexible working

To apply for flexible working you must write a letter to your employer. This letter should include:

  • The date
  • A statement that you are making a statutory request for flexible working
  • Details on how you wish to work flexibly and from what date
  • An explanation on how your employer will be affected and how you suggest they deal with this
  • Details on any previous applications.

Your employer should consider your request (usually by arranging a meeting to discuss your application) and confirm their decision within 3 months. It is important to note here that if your request is accepted, this would become a permanent change to your terms and conditions of employment, and as such, you need to think VERY carefully about the details of your request, thinking about the long term rather than just your immediate needs. If your request is declined, your employer should outline in writing their business reasons for refusal.

Why was my request rejected?

There are various reasons why a request for flexible working may be rejected. These include:

  • Extra costs that would damage the business
  • A belief that work can not be reorganised between existing staff
  • People cannot be recruited to do work
  • Flexible working would affect quality and or performance
  • The business wont be able to meet customer demand
  • A lack of work to do during proposed times
  • The business is planning workforce changes

My advice on making your application

Firstly, consider:

  • What other flexible working arrangements exist within your organisation? Are they comparable to your role and responsibilities? Why are they effective arrangements and can something similar work in your situation?
  • Avoid making assumptions about your colleagues – e.g. X wont mind, X doesn’t have children etc. You cannot and should not use a generalisation about other people’s personal circumstances as the basis for your application.

Analyse your Role

  • Who will cover your work when you are not there? Can it wait until your return?
  • What impact will your absence have on colleagues?
  • What are the busiest hours / days in your role e.g. if Mondays are the busiest day – unlikely to get approval if you ask to not work Mondays. If Fridays are quieter, and have less work to cover this may be a better option.
  • What would happen if urgent work came in?
  • How would you ensure your colleagues were aware of your workload?
  • Be realistic – don’t attempt to cram the same amount of work into less hours – you will just end up burning out.
  • Are there any tasks that don’t NEED to be done? Could certain tasks/ projects be shelved or completed less regularly / shared amongst the team with minimal impact?

Focus on the positive

  • Could your working longer days (compressed working week) for example, actually be a benefit – e.g. more cover for the department first thing and last thing, shorter lunch break providing additional cover? This could be a positive impact for the availability of the team.
  • Could you working flexibly enable a development opportunity for others within your team e.g. apprentice or administrator for whom some more basic elements could be delegated as a development or learning tool.
  • Make it easier for them to say yes – how will you working flexibly benefit the business – (turn it around with a positive message!) – DON’T say it is because you’re too tired or cant cope with existing workload.

Compromise 

  • Why not suggest a trial period so that both parties can ensure it is working for them?
  • If you don’t think they would approve the exact hours you want, would staggered start and end times help your circumstances (e.g.avoiding rush hour traffic)
  • Be as flexible as you can – particularly on your choice of days if requesting less than the normal working week – offer to change (with notice) as and when required if this is an option. e.g. if grandparents have children could you swap days on occasion if demand/work required?
  • Provide different options where possible – whilst one might not work, another may be easier to accommodate. Consider outlining your first/2nd choice in terms of desirable work pattern.
  • Be prepared to compromise – you may want to finish at 4.30 but they may say they can only consider a 5pm finish. Aim for a working agreement, not perfection.
  • Reassure them – e.g. happy to take the odd out of hours call when required – happy to check emails once the children are in bed to ensure there is nothing urgent that needs to be passed on. Emphasise your commitment.

And remember…. if you are looking at new jobs away from your original employer – just because an advert doesn’t mention flexible working does not mean they WON’T consider it for the right person. Do not be scared to pick up the phone and ask – you may be just the person they are looking for!

I hope you find the above useful!

GOOD LUCK!

Lucy x

Hints and tips for writing the perfect flexible working request

 

Tips For Building An Established Blog

Tips For Building An Established Blog

#AD I often have days where people email me asking questions about the blog. “Why did you start blogging?” “HOW did you start blogging?” “How can I start my own blog?” “How do you make money from blogging” or the one I roll my eyes at a little “How do you get sent stuff for free?”.

There are a few things to note here – firstly, blogging is not, has never been, and more so now than ever, is not a quick and easy way to make money. It takes determination, persistence and a whole lot of effort to get to a stage where income is at a steady flow, however, there is still lots of benefit in starting a blog and establishing it as a source of income to support you or your family. Secondly, things are never free. It may look like that from the outside looking in, but trust me, swap places with me for a week and you’ll gain some insight into just how much work goes on behind the scenes in exchange for product.

In my 6 years of Real Mum Reviews, I have seen lots of bloggers come and go, starting a blog with the best of intentions before realising that things don’t happen as quickly as they would like, and giving up.

For those of you that are in for the long haul, here are my hints and tips for building an established blog.

    Know your audience – Understand the kind of content that makes them tick – what are they going to want to read? What will make them click through to your content, keep them engaged, make them want to read on and learn more? What would YOU want to read? If you aren’t interested in your content – how can you expect others to be. On the contrary, what will turn them off? What things should you avoid in order to retain your readers?
  1. Build up backlinks – become a trusted source of information. What is your area of expertise? What is your niche? What topic can you talk about with confidence, that other people will want to share / link back to? The stronger your backlinks the higher your domain authority.
  2. Pay attention to your SEO – how you write your posts has a huge impact on how highly your posts will rank in google searches, and search engine optimisation is all about writing in a way that helps google index and rank your content. The Yoast plugin is really helpful to ensure your posts are SEO Friendly. Including alt text (a description of all your images) is particularly important, as well as ensuring that the key word you select practical and suitable for your content.
  3. Be consistent – post regularly, and ideally at the same times / days of the week. Your followers will get used to your approach and learn to expect your content. By posting regularly, google will index your site more frequently, meaning that your content has the potential to be read more often.
  4. Don’t just stop at the publish button – you can’t expect your readers to always come to you. In 2019, you have to go out and find them – publish and promote your posts – share on social media, add them to Pinterest and Mix, push them out in Facebook groups relevant to your topic. It’s a competitive digitial world out there and therefore in order to be seen you need to promote promote promote. You don’t have to do all this manually however, there are lots of tools you can use (some free and some with a small monthly fee) that can be used to schedule your blog posts to social media at predetermined times, meaning that where ever you are and whatever you’re doing, your blog continues to be promoted in the background.
  5. Be flexible – to survive in the now heavily saturated world of blogging, particularly if you are in the parenting and lifestyle sector, you have to be adaptable – particularly when it comes to the world of social media With ever changing algorithms and hurdles to tackle, what works today almost certainly wont work tomorrow. You need to be willing to change your approach regularly and do what works RIGHT NOW in order to stay ahead of the game.
  6. Plan ahead – an established blogger will always be planning ahead, creating content and working on features that will be interesting to their readers in a few months time. An editorial calendar is a great way of staying organised and ensuring you have content going out at the right time in the right style for your readers.
  7. Be patient – building an established blog does not happen overnight. You cant expect to jump from 10 to 10000 followers quickly (at least not through ethical means) and therefore persistence and patience is key. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
  8. Keep learning and take every bit of advice about blogging you can find. There are so many things I wish I’d known when I first started blogging back in 2013, and since then I have really had my eyes opened to some of the things I should and shouldn’t have been doing when I first started! Create your tribe, network with other influencers, and keep learning.
  9. My final tip is that blogging should NEVER feel like a chore. If you’re blogging with the sole purpose of making money, and not enjoying the writing and the creative process AT ALL, then you’re in it for the wrong reasons. For me, the money that the blog brings in is obviously a huge bonus, but even in the quiet months, even when I have no sponsored campaigns or am taking photos of every day life, I continue to do it because it’s a channel for my thoughts. I find writing therapeutic, a stress release, and if I am honest, I can’t imagine a week where I wouldn’t want to get out my laptop or scribble down my thoughts. Think long and hard about WHY you want to blog, and do what makes you happy. Everything else is a bonus.

*This is a collaborative post however all thoughts and opinions are my own and based on actual experiences I have had as a blogger.* 

Stop Putting it Off – #EmpowerYourFuture

Stop Putting it Off – #EmpowerYourFuture

There never seems to be a ‘right time’ to start thinking about your retirement does there?

In my teens, when I first started working part time, I absolutely loved having my own disposable income; some financial freedom from my parents where I no longer had to ask their permission to buy stuff. I could save, spend (and spend some more) as and when I wished. I was probably the wealthiest I’ve ever been!

When I got handed a pensions application form on my first day at my new job working as a Sales Assistant for a high street fashion retailer, I popped it to one side amongst the copies of my contract ready to be filed away. Retirement? Ha! – I was 18! Plenty of time for that.

In my twenties, my priorities shifted somewhat. I took out a student loan despite living at home with my parents, and felt quite proud of myself when I saved the entire amount to use as a deposit for my own flat.

My first ‘real’ jobs came along and again the pension forms arrived. This time, as a result of my Mum nagging me to complete them (wise woman!), I signed up and opted for the bare minimum, with a small amount of my take home salary being added to a pension pot.

In my early thirties, our daughters came along. Already paying for my share of the mortgage and household bills, my priorities turned towards funding nappies and paying for childcare, and despite knowing that I probably should be saving more towards my future, the immediate expenses of a family of four always understandably seemed to take a priority. As I have moved jobs and changed roles over the years, the pension forms have been completed when I signed my contract, never really to be looked at again.

Pensions and Me

Whilst I do have a pension, I pay in the bare minimum each month, and could definitely do a lot more to prepare for my retirement; which now at the age of 35, no longer feels an eternity away.

If you’d have asked me 6 months ago how much I had in my pension(s), of which I now have a few – my answer would have been extremely vague (it’s safe to say I didn’t have a clue).

I didn’t know where the paperwork was, I didn’t know how to check them and I had absolutely no idea how much money I could expect to receive when I reached retirement age. I am sure many of you will be the same – I am definitely not the only one who has put pensions on the back burner.

In a weird way, preparing for your retirement should be seen as a form of self care, sewing a little now to harvest in the future, but like many self care elements as a modern female, we seem to spend so long looking after other people that our own care comes at the bottom of the list.

Women and Pensions

It appears I am not alone. Recent research from Scottish Widows Women & Retirement report suggests that many women aren’t planning their pensions early enough, with a THIRD of women not saving adequately (compared to 46% of men their age). Given that statistically women live longer and generally earn less, this is more than a little worrying!

Their report found that on average, men hold nearly twice the amount of savings than women do (Men – 66,604 and Women 33,779).

Whilst auto enrolment has helped (with employers automatically taking pension deductions from salaries for those aged 22 and above who are earning over £10,000 per year), the amounts are very small at just 5% of salary, so despite this, just 33% of 22-29 year olds are saving adequately compared to 46% of men.

Most concerning, 25% of women aged 22-29 aren’t saving for retirement at all, potentially choosing to opt out of their pension arrangements all together.

Scottish Widows are pushing to help improve this, identifying the issues that women are facing and trying to remove potential barriers that may be preventing women from saving adequately.

They are calling for women to #empoweryourfuture, taking a few moments out of your day to learn more about their current financial situation, and take some improvement steps to better prepare ourselves for retirement. Whilst for some, the mere mention of the word pensions is enough to bring you out in a cold sweat, it’s actually far less complicated than it sounds…

Pension Wellbeing Hub

Last month I headed down to the Scottish Widows Pensions Awareness Day tour, and spoke to the team of experts at Scottish Widows to try and understand more about the issues affecting women and pensions, as well as posing some of your questions you asked me over on Facebook about planning for retirement.

Thanks to the Scottish Widows Pensions Wellbeing Hub, you can now demystify many of your pension queries all in one easy to access place.

Over at the Pension Wellbeing Hub you will find:

  • The Pension Wellbeing Guide – helping you discover how much you’ve already paid, whether your savings are on track, and learn what you might want to do next. The majority of questions you asked me on Facebook were about how maternity leave, working part time and having time out looking after children could affect your pensions – you can find all the answers to these here.
  • The Scottish Widows handy pension calculator tools are also great to help you figure out exactly what difference you could make to your pension. With the Pay More Calculator, you can do a quick calculation to figure out just how much more you could find in your pension pot at retirement by increasing your monthly allocation, even by a % or two – a small increase now really can make a big difference to the money you receive at retirement.
  • For those who aren’t really sure where to start, you can also take a Pension Personality Quiz – a quick questionnaire which analyses your current approach to saving for retirement, in order to provide some quick hints and tips on what you can do to improve. When I took this quiz down in London with Katykicker (a money blogger no less), she understandably got ‘Savvy Saver’ – she had clearly taken time to research her options fully and as a self-employed individual, she was actively taking the steps she needed to in order to plan for her retirement.
    I, on the other hand, got ‘Creature of Habit’ – as a matter of routine I have been paying in the bare minimum throughout my employment, without taking time to fully understand what that means for my future. When I realised that on my current projections I wouldn’t be able to retire comfortably till the age of 90(!!!), their guidance to consider increasing my contributions suddenly seemed like quite a good idea!
  • The missing pieces – Like me, you can also learn how to track down your old pensions (I’ve moved jobs and moved house, and paperwork isn’t my strong point), identify whether to combine them into one pension pot, and how you might wish to review your pension as you get closer to retirement age.

I am feeling a lot more in control of my pension now, and know what I need to do to get it to the level I’d like it to be in order to live comfortably in my later years.

So let’s stop saying “I’ll think about it later”, because before we know it, the 6 year old we are in our heads becomes a 60 year old, and I for one don’t want to be worrying about whether I will be able to afford my food shop by the end of each week.

Click here to read the full Scottish Widows Women & Retirement report and visit the Scottish Widows Pension Wellbeing Hub to learn more.

*This is a sponsored post in conjunction with Scottish Widows and Mumsnet Influencers.

5 years of blogging – the things I never knew!!

5 years of blogging – the things I never knew!!

When I started my blog just over 5 years ago, I am not really sure what I expected. I had a small seed of an idea in my head of creating somewhere to share my parenting experiences and helping others with their purchase decisions, but that was about as far as it went. I had no real plans for the future, no expectations of where it would lead, and no idea the huge learning curve that stood before me. Fast forward to 2018, and the blog has now become a bit of an addiction – one that I couldn’t stop now even if I wanted to. For me, blogging is my therapy, the outlet for my thoughts, my venting board and my outlet into the world.

There are however some things that I did NOT know when I started blogging – some good, some bad, and some downright ugly. Here’s five things I have learnt about blogging, some of which came as a bit of a surprise.

  1. Blogging can be, and is for many, a legitimate long term career choice – Whilst I am not a full time blogger (and am unlikely to ever make that full step), there are many very successful bloggers who do so as their career. When I first started, I had absolutely no idea that there was a potential source of income from a blog, no clue about advertising, affiliate incomes or sponsored posts. It was all an alien prospect. In the last five years I have taken my blog from a small hobby into a part time income for me and my family, and I am so proud of how far it has come. I have also watched many fellow bloggers take that step into full time blogging, handing in their notice at a job that they hated or had no passion for, and completely followed their dreams. Blogging has opened up so many avenues for so many people, and allowed them to have a career around their family commitments – enabling them to work hard and support their familiies, but still be at home to great their children at the school gates. I think this is amazing.
  2. Statistics will be forever imprinted on your brain – as fun as it can be watching your stats (hopefully) grow month on month; it can become a little addictive. Whether it’s your social media followings, the dreaded follow/unfollow, your monthly stats, your Tots Ranking or the holy grail that is Domain Authority, blogging is a statisticians dream. At times it is easy to get a bit bogged down in the data, and I find I enjoy writing a lot more when I ignore the numbers and focus on just doing what I enjoy – however, this is easier said than done, as many campaigns are social following dependent. I always seem to be chasing the next milestone, the next landmark, the next achievement within fingers reach. I set myself annual blogging goals as I like to have something to work towards, and this generally keeps me on track!
  3. People can be mean. This probably isn’t actually that unsurprising, but I never expected people’s opinions to be so strong. I guess when you decide to share the intricate details of your life on the internet you are opening yourself up to a bit of a backlash, but I have had some really awful comment at times. The worst negativity I had was when The Sun newspaper shared one of my posts – To the Waiter who Disciplined My Child. It was a controversial perspective I appreciate, and I guess it was always going to entice debate, but ouch, some of the comments really stung. After a while you learn to ignore the trolls, but it doesn’t make their words hurt any less. That said, I have also received some amazing comments of support and advice from my readers, particularly around Neve’s Dietitian Journey and the troubles we have had with her eating. It just goes to show that in times of need, most parents really do look out for each other, and genuinely want to help.
  4. Bloggers, particularly parenting bloggers – are part of a huge social community. – and can be incredibly supportive of each other’s journey. As with most friendship groups, there can be some cliques, but generally, overall, I have made some amazing new friends and ‘colleagues’ via my blog. One group in particular have become very close friends over the last 2 years or so, with us chatting on WhatsApp pretty much every single day. Their support has extended far beyond just the blog – they have become sounding boards and support givers on pretty much every aspect of my life. When we meet at blogging conferences and social events it is like we have known each other for years, and for that I am truly grateful. I can’t wait to see a few of them at BlogOn X this weekend!
  5. Blogging enhances your CV – I have learnt so many new skills over the last 5 years, most of which are very transferable and have proved to be extremely useful in my day job. I never imagined the day that I would be writing out HTML code, building WordPress websites on my own, creating visual designs in Canva, become confident across all social media channels, or learn the odd marketing strategy or two. I’ve now got a long list of blogging skills to add to my CV and it has definitely been enhanced as a result.

However you chose to blog, whether its for fun, a hobby or a career, there is definitely a rollercoaster of a journey to be had.

What did you wish you’d known about blogging before you started?

Lucy

Could you wave goodbye to Facebook?

Could you wave goodbye to Facebook?

It’s hard to believe that the social media giant could have a fall from grace, but with #deletefacebook trending over recent weeks, I began to ask myself, could I, or would I, ever be able to truly say goodbye to Facebook?

In case you missed it, or in case you couldn’t get your head around the mess that is the Facebook data scandal – here’s what’s been occuring.

  • It was revealed that a company called Cambridge Analytica had managed to get hold of the personal data from 50 million Facebook profiles.
  • An app by a professor called Aleksandr Kogan was created as a ‘fun personality assessment’, but the data and answers to questions provided were sold on to Cambridge Analytica, and used to map out voter behaviour in 2016, both on opinions towards Brexit, and on the US presidential campaign.
  • The app was voluntarily downloaded by around 270,000 people, but the app also gained access to the details of the user’s friends, none of whom had given consent for their data to be captured.
  • The data scandal was exposed via a whistleblower who sold their story to the Guardian.
  • Facebook are denying that this is a data breach, stating that the app picked up information in a legitimate way, however they admit that their rules were violated when the data was sold on.
  • Facebook is now known to have been aware of the problem since 2015, but done nothing to protect users other than asking the recipients to delete it.
  • People are now questioning what if anything they should put on Facebook and whether their data is safe.

Light night Mark Zuckerberg faced a host of tough questions, with many answers left unclear, and an apology, that Facebook, in effect, has let us down.

First things first, I should say here, that as a blogger, and an avid user of Facebook and Instagram (owned by Facebook), a lot of my data is pretty public, and I have been on Facebook for over 10 years.

Whilst I use it as a medium for my blog, my personal use has definitely declined over recent years.

Facebook has been with me through a lot – everything from my first ever Facebook status – “What’s all this about then?” to break ups, make ups, meet ups, pregnancies, births and deaths. Some of the happiest and most painful moments of my life have been shared with friends on this medium. 1000s of happy memories, photos that make me beam with joy, and days that I will look back on with nothing but smiles.

The idea of keeping in touch with friends who would otherwise drift out of my life was too much of a pull. I love seeing their photos, their updates, their holidays and weddings.

Except Facebook tried to get clever, and now? … I don’t see any of that at all.

For me, Facebook is no longer fit for purpose. 

Last week someone I went to school with gave birth. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. She had put updates on Facebook, but I hadn’t seen them, despite following her and being ‘friends’ with her on FB since 2011. Facebook for some reason assumed they knew better than me about the kind of content I would find interesting, and prioritised a viral video of a puppies on a slide, or an article informing me that smelling my partners farts is healthy (yes really) over my school friends pregnancy announcement. Because YES facebook – this is more important than someone bringing another human being into the world.

I rarely update my Facebook status these days, with the exception of some photos of the girls for my family who live far away.

If it wasn’t for the blog, I ask myself, would I even want to use Facebook at all??

With these latest revelations and more and more people wondering whether their data is safe, more and more people will be deleting Facebook, meaning more and more of my posts went get read via this source. Facebook has gone from being one of my biggest referrers to one of my smallest.

However, I like to think that some of my posts help some of you – whether it be knowing youre not the only sleep deprived soul, whether it’s someone who had a difficult c-section recovery, someone who’s child doesn’t eat, or someone who’s just starting a fitness journey, I hope the posts that I share on Facebook do have some interest and reach those who will actually enjoy them.

But as for being a social Media channel for the future??? Who knows.

What are your thoughts on Facebook?