Amanda: I’ve had my fill of the pests on Facebook
AMANDA Brunker, the writer and socialite, has decided to leave Facebook due to ‘unwanted attention’ online.
The 44-year-old took to Twitter yesterday to announce she was ‘thrilled’ to have signed off the social site for the final time.
She told the Irish Daily Mail that having a Facebook account had brought with it ‘unwanted attention from some men’.
Ms Brunker said: ‘I just don’t need it any more. I’m too old for that.
‘It gives people access to me that I just don’t want to give any more.’
She admitted she was not ‘tech savvy’, saying she did not fully understand the privacy settings. But she said she was aware that strangers had a level of access to her profile. Ms Brunker said she realised her profile had ‘this ton of information’ available to others and that it ‘freaked me [her] out a little bit’.
The mother of two also said that she felt people were ‘very needy’ on Facebook, saying: ‘I can’t take on everybody else’s problems. I have enough of my own.’
Despite leaving Facebook, Ms Brunker said she would continue to use Twitter as a source of information and to promote causes close to her heart such as animal rights.
Ms Brunker said Twitter users were less likely to send upsetting messages as the method of communication on the site is different to Facebook.
She said: ‘Generally speaking when people want to abuse you they have to do it quite publicly on Twitter whereas people can send you a lot of private messages on Facebook.
‘And [on Facebook] you’re kind of friends with people that you didn’t realise you were friends with.’ ÷ Yesterday $122billion (€105billion) was wiped off Facebook’s value after the company admitted growth in user numbers had faltered and said profits were set to be squeezed for years.
Facebook’s shares fell by 19.4% to $175.28.