Sis.E.On

“Many friendships have been formed online. A national survey of adolescent Internet users in the United States reported that more than half of the sample conversed with people whom they did not know face-to-face through various online communication channels such as chat rooms and email. Twenty-five percent of the adolescents developed casual online friendships, and 14% of them had developed close online friendships.” 

“We propose that those who feel that they can better express their true selves on the Internet than they can in their non-Internet areas of life will be more likely to form close relationships with those they meet on-line.”

“…not only do UK housewives spend more of their downtime online than anyone else in the whole wide world, but also that – shock, horror – people are increasingly open to turning “online” friends into people they’d deign to call real life friends.”

“However, it may be hard to find others who share one’s interests in one’s local area, and when people get to know one another in the traditional manner, it generally takes time to establish whether they have commonalities and to what extent. But when someone joins a newsgroup devoted to, for example, aging ferrets, he or she already knows that there is a shared base of interest with the others there.”

 “Some researchers argue that people can develop close online relationships because the Internet enables individuals to pass through obstacles that may prevent potentially rewarding relationships from developing through face-to-face interaction.”

“Depending on the root of the friendship, on where the conversation started, the benefit is clear – you cut out the tedium of small talk. What could be better? There’s no trying to slowly work out whether you think similarly or have the same kinds of life experience, or whether you really do have enough in common to sustain the friendship – all that is done by the time you meet because you’ve read their comments or their emails or their blog. “

So, tl;dr?