LONDON, UK: It may come as a rude shock, but Facebook users should not feel surprised if tomorrow they come across their photos existing in the web world despite having deleted them personally long ago.

The photos do not disappear even after they are deleted but can still be accessed by anyone with a link to the images themselves. The company admits that its systems "do not always delete images in a reasonable period of time", the Daily Mail reported.

Deleted images vanish from 'normal' views of the site, meaning if you log in to Facebook and look on somebody's photo page, they won't be visible. But they would still remain visible to anyone with a direct URL link to the picture.

That means that if, for instance, a picture has been circulated by e-mail, the image will still be there for anyone who clicks the link.