Social networking websites like Facebook are becoming a necessity of life as more than 60 per cent of travellers use this online media to stay connected and several professionals find it as an important business tool, according to a recent study.

About 80 per cent of respondents said they access to social media daily, while 39 per cent among them said they "could not live" without these sites, a survey conducted by StudyLogic said.

The survey, conducted on 4,204 people via phone in US, UK and China, claims one-third of respondents log in multiple times in an hour to Facebook or Twitter and one-fifth check their profiles multiple times in a day while travelling.

Every third person would rather log in to share news than to make calls, it said.

The social media are now defining business also as prior to a meeting, 54 per cent of professionals check the profile of their business contacts, while nearly 60 per cent respondents do not hire a candidate based on a "negative impression" from a social-media profile.

About 56 per cent people find social media are important as a networking tool for business as they would like to work with a person who is active on such sites.

However, so much dependence on social media could be dangerous as 70 per cent of the respondents say they are not honest on social networking sites.