Unless you run an online business, no. Nothing beats good old face to face interaction otherwise... networking online usually only ends up burning up your hours you could be doing more productive things with. Local face to face networking / groups, absolutely. Here in Australia you have two major community groups, Lions Club and Rotary. Both are usually filled with people who run their own business and then help out local communities. These type of local resources are a wealth of networking whilst doing something creative and socialising.
My brother for example, flies model jet aircraft. Each one of these things is around $30k... and these guys have trailers full of them stacked up... hence most run their own companies and whilst enjoying a social outing, they also network and pass business between one another / give each other discounts to buy between one another if applicable.
Networking is best done locally...