Wait for incoming data in a C++ client socket application

Through a tutorial I was able to built a C++ client application that connects to a server and is able to send and receive data.

Currently the application ends after it receives a string from the server. What I want to do is to let the client keep listening for incoming data.

Currently a part of my code looks like this:

string tcp_client::receive(int size=512)
{
    char buffer[size];
    string reply;

    //Receive a reply from the server
    if( recv(sock , buffer , sizeof(buffer) , 0) < 0)
    {
        puts("recv failed");
    }

    reply = buffer;
    return reply;
}

int main(int argc , char *argv[])
{
    tcp_client c;
    string host;

    cout<<"Enter hostname : ";
    cin>>host;

    c.conn(host , 4004);

    //send some data
    c.send_data("TEST STRING \n\r\n");

    //receive and echo reply
    // (want to keep listening here for data)
    cout<<c.receive(1024);


    //done
    return 0;
}

I don't want the client to end but I want it to keep listening for data. I'm thinking about adding this code:

while(buffer = c.receive(1024))
{
    // do something with buffer ... switch/case construction
    // After that, start listening again
}

First of all I'm not sure if this works. But second, I'm also not sure if it's smart to put in a never ending while loop in there (never ending, until I terminate the application of course).

Can I simply put in a while loop like that? Or are there other. better methods to make a client application keep listening for data?