I hang out in corners of physics, ML, EA, and Progress Studies Twitter and have made some great connections that have turned into real friendships IRL.
Often the next step after meeting on Twitter is setting up a video chat to have a deeper conversation together, but eventually I like to set up nice walk and talks on hikes or around cities.
I now have great friends that I make an effort to see in person in cities around the US and Europe!
You should look into the Ronin Institute. Since it is very hard or impossible to get grants without being affiliated with an institute, the Ronin Institute is a remote institute that any researcher can apply to join.
http://ronininstitute.org/
I think they've been pretty successful at attracting a network of interesting non-traditional researchers. I bet there are some good lessons there about how to grow an institute and bootstrap its prestige.