An American graduate has designed an Internet- enabled jacket which inflates to give the wearer a 'hug' every time they receive a 'like" on social networking site, Facebook.

The specially designed "Like-A-Hug" jacket inflates when the wearer's mobile phone sends a signal after a page, status or photo is liked on Facebook.

MIT Student Melissa Kit Chow, who designed the jacket, says the invention allows us to "feel the warmth, encouragement, support, or love that we feel when we receive hugs".

Chow says the jacket was created as a concept after discussing long-distance relationships and the limitations of video chat interfaces like Skype.

She explains: ""The concept of telepresence arose, and we toyed with the idea of receiving hugs via wireless technology. The result was Like-A-Hug. Connecting it to Facebook conceptually was simply a way to explore how social media might push past the traditional graphic user interface (GUI)."

The now infamous 'like' is a button users hit on Facebook to show appreciation for anything a user posts such as statuses, videos, photos and news.

More than 1.13 trillion items have been 'liked' on Facebook since it began, the firm recently revealed.