A woman who was the subject of an Internet meme mocking her appearance has recieved a flood of support after making a public plea for people to "think before they tweet".

Lizzie Velasquez, an activist who suffers from a rare, inherited condition that means her body is unable to store fat, recently became the subject of a meme that featured a photograph of her smiling, along with the words: "Michael said he would meet me behind this tree for a bit of fun.

"He's running late, would someone pleased tag him and tell him I'm still waiting?"

Ms Velasquez, from Texas, shared the meme on her Instagram account, along with a long message in which she asked people to think more carefully before they share a viral meme of a stranger.

She wrote: “I'm writing this post not as someone who is a victim but as someone who is using their voice. No matter what we look like or what size we are, at the end of the day we are all human.”

The post garnered more than 28,000 'likes' and thousands of Instagram users commented showing their support.

Ms Velasquez later posted a video message thanking people for their support, and emphasising that people should "think before they tweet". She said: "When you see something online, remember that there is a human who is being affected by it.

"It might be funny at the time, but there's probably someone who's not feeling that it's that funny. So just think before you tweet, think before you share, think before you like, because we just want to be accepted, and that's it."

At the age of 17, Ms Velasquez discovered a video of herself entitled “World’s Ugliest Woman” on YouTube.

The video had been viewed more than four million times and garnered hundreds of cruel comments, including one telling her parents to “kill it with fire” and another asking why they chose not to abort her.