Are Internet Friends "Real" Friends?

I share my opinion as a blogger from Indonesia. In my country, it is a nature of bloggers in my country to have offline gatherings after they're becoming online friend. When the gatherings become intense, we build blogger communities for bloggers in specific area (cities or provinces). It's common to have gathering between communities in same or neighbor cities. And annually, we have two or three national gatherings for bloggers from entire country. So basically here, we almost have no difference between real life friendship and online friendship, and yes, the friendship is absolutely "real", and in various aspect even better than friendship from real life. This is also works perfectly between Indonesian bloggers which have not the chance to meet yet due to distance etc.

In simple example, I used to backpacking to another cities just to meet online friends whom I never meet before. More than just happy to finally get a chance to face-to-face with me, they also provides accommodation even it means share their small rented room with me. :D

I think sometimes people are most honest online because of the perceived anonymity. That helps relationship to develop more easily.

People who aren't being real eventually slip up and are discovered.

I think online friends are very real. Often you've come together because you both think and feel passonately about the same things. It's not just the random "you know people I went to school with or live near" that usually gives friendships in real life.

Great post!

I believe that online friends are real friends. I can attest to the fact that I am a real friend to many I interact with daily on twitter. Many don't even know my name. But I consider them friends. I have logged on many of days feeling blue and so many rush to my side assuring and supporting. It's time when I just want to laugh. I'll log on to see who's saying something funny today.

Funny my husband isn't into social media. He says those are not your friends. You don't who or what is on the other end. All I know is how they make me feel, the feeling is friendly.

There's no question for me on this: My friends are real friends regardless of whether I've met them in person. I'm saying that both as a long-term online gamer and a newbie blogger who is trying to find and make blogging friends.

The post on She Suggests talks a lot about whether you can ever really know somebody from just the way they write a blog. That goes two ways, though. You might actually know more about some online/bloggy friends than real-life friends because the online/bloggy friends are deliberately opening themselves in ways that real-life friends haven't considered doing. There are always going to be gaps in your knowledge about a person. That doesn't mean a true bond doesn't exist.

From the main post: "What can you know of their whole complete being while reading carefully selected words and an (overly) curated photo gallery?"

I cherish the friends I have met online through my blogging, and challenge anyone who claims that these friends aren't "real"! I probably share more with some of them than I do friends I see each and every day. Real connections that I've made based on sharing parts of my life and my thoughts.

I am so happy to see this featured over here!

The Internet and my blog have allowed me to "meet" people that I never would have come across in my real world and I am happy about that. My virtual best friend is coming to visit me in November and it is going to be both strange and wonderful at the same time.

I believe that it is possible to eventually get to know someone from writing on-line, and soon begin a real friendship. Like Ourlifeinwords said below, "relationships may be more accepting of who I really am than relationships I have in real life." Just look at the relationship between Julia Child and Avis Devoto, it began with writing letters. They established a really good friendship by first getting to know each other through ink.

~Virginia

I think sometimes, at least for me, I feel more likely to say what I really feel on-line in a way that I don't have the courage to do in real life. I tend to be quieter in real life and to "test the social waters" more on line, so for me I do think that the relationships may be more accepting of who I really am than relationships I have in real life.