I'm a dance instructor and yet I have social phobia. I suffer from depression and anxiety disorder and I'm on medications to help, but medications aren't an answer by themselves. I have found that putting myself out there deliberately, in social situations such as teaching dance, is necessary to help me deal with my social phobia. Of course, you don't have to go to the extreme of teaching a group of people, but I find I enjoy it most of the time. I don't think I will ever overcome my social phobia completely, but I have reached a certain level at which I am more comfortable in my interactions with people. I have come a long way, considering I was so shy and anxious at one time I could barely speak. I was the "quiet" one throughout school. I have also learned that coming from a dysfunctional family in which there was a great deal of yelling, verbal and physical abuse, especially from my mother, did not help. There was a great deal of criticism and little, if any, praise offered from my mother while I was growing up. And my siblings have said that I was mom's "scapegoat" - the one on whom she unleased her frustrations and anger. To this day, although I am female, I have great difficulty forming and maintaining female friendships, and often seem to attract women who end up "abusing" me in ways that my mother did. I felt betrayed by her, and have been betrayed by several female friends. Trust does not come easily for me when it comes to women. It sounds odd, because that's what you'd usually hear a man say! On the other hand, I had a much better relationship with my father, and can easily make friends with males - probably one reason my marriage has lasted so long. Still, a woman needs a social network of female friends, and for much of my life, I haven't had one. I am trying hard to change that.
I think it can be helpful because as you say, you can talk about all sorts of things without having to worry. Unlike real life you can always pull the plug lol 
