A PATENT lodged by Facebook has revealed the social media giant is considering watching users through cameras on their laptops and smartphones.

The patent was actually filed in February 2014 but was only recently spotted by the technology website cbinsights.com.

It proposes capturing images of the user by enabling the camera - even when it hasn't been switched on - to track the person's facial expression and monitor their emotional reaction to the site.

That data would then be stores and Facebook would then tailor the content you see in your feed based on which posts, stories and videos elicit a positive reaction.

"We often seek patents for technology we never implement, and patents should not be taken as an indication of future plans," a Facebook spokesman told Forbes magazine.

Of course you have to enable access to your camera for this to work although chances are you alreay do this so you can share photos and videos.

It's believed the site hasn't put the plan into action yet and there are no guarantees it will.