The answer, according to former colleague James Garner, is “kinda”:

Too much can be claimed at times about the power of social media and its transformative affects. However, I firmly believe that social media is partly the reason why I started a new role, so soon after leaving my last, timing, luck and good-old fashioned networking were also a big factor.

Social networking doesn’t replace traditional face to face relationship building – it complements it. And that’s why anyone who contrasts online relationship building with “real” relationship building is an idiot. 😉