I think that just "networking" would be the wrong takeaway, though. The author[0] is pretty active on Twitter / the blogosphere and, even though I don't follow him personally, his writing has popped up on my feed a number of times. He's likely meeting people and having interesting conversations ("networking") because he has interesting things to say.
Not just blogging, but Tim is also active in terms of attending / speaking at various industry conferences and what-not. Whether he is doing it simply to "build his brand" or because he genuinely enjoys it, or both, is something I can't speak to. But I think he's definitely "meeting people and having interesting conversations".
[0] https://twitter.com/tdhopper