Facebook's new Subscribe button has given users of the social networking site Twitter-like power to follow the activities and posts of their friends online but they should take caution because of its spying ability that can invade one's privacy.

The Subscription button launched last week allows Facebook users to subscribe to other users' Likes and comments even if they are not close friends thereby exposing information that a user might not want to reveal. In short, private or personal photos, comments and conversations that a user does not want to see will be easily accessible to others.

"Facebook's new Subscription options, makes it disturbingly easy to effectively eavesdrop on fellow Facebook friends -- that is, to peer in on exchanges between your Facebook friends, both with mutual pals and people who are complete strangers to you," according to InfoWorld Tech Watch blogger Ted Samson. "This should be of particular concern for all the Facebook users who use the site both to interact with real-life friends on a personal level, as well as family members, coworkers, and colleagues."

Facebook's privacy setting may not be enough to control private information from spilling freely to strangers. Samson said, " If you want to say something semi-private about a photo, you apparently need to make sure the person who posted that photo set it to private. If you want to Like something one of your Facebook contacts says or posts publically or want to express your fandom for, say, a musical group or performer or politician or, well, a porn site, they'll know so long as they are subscribed to your Likes."

Last year, Facebook's Live Chat function was disabled by engineers after people outside the company discovered a bug that allowed users to eavesdrop on their friends' conversations, according to The Register. Engineers also corrected a separate hole that allowed users to see their friends' pending friend requests. The gaffes were the result of a new service added to Facebook, the Preview My Profile.