I think that's a false dichotomy. Without socialization it's very difficult to understand the people you're working with and this, in my experience, is often the root of friction between teams and departments.

I've been working from home with my distributed team all over the USA (and world) for over a year now. I haven't met a few of them ever in person yet. Our company and team are doing fine just socializing over Skype and conference calls / Google Hangout (occasionally) when needed.

Someone doesn't need to be sitting right next to me able to interrupt me whenever they like to "promote synergy"