BANGALORE, INDIA: No doubt, the online social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook are the best way to be in touch with the dear ones across geographies. But the habit of staying connected has a no-so-good impact on the global economy, says a study.

According to a recent survey the popular social networking sites are costing British businesses 1.38 billion pounds a year in wasted time.

The survey on 1,460 office workers commissioned by Morse, an IT services and technology company, found that more than half of office workers used these social networking sites for personal use during the working day, and admitted to wasting an average of 40 minutes a week each, according to an ANI report.

Philip Wicks, consultant at Morse, said the cost to the economy could be substantially higher than the 1.38 billion estimates.

According to The Daily Telegraph, one in three of the 1,460 office workers surveyed also said they had seen sensitive company information posted on social networking sites, leading to fears about how workers use the Internet.

"Social networking can be a cause for good when it is used professionally but I think organisations need to wake up - that is not the way it is always being used," Philip Wicks was quoted as saying.