No it doesn't[1], except perhaps by turning a bunch of thoughful humans into an online mob. Social media amplifies humanity's worst impulses for clicks. The connection part is purely incidental and is going away now that AI can just generate whatever 30s conspiracy theory video you want to watch instead of having a person do it.

The connection thing maybe was incidental before but it's now the main value proposition of social media. we all can now generate sh#t by ourselves so why would we need social media at all if not connection. I have dozens of real people i know whom i keep in touch with through social media