Online Friends Are Valuable To Me

So I've heard that having friends online becomes less of an issue of having real conversations and more an issue of showcasing your life. I dunno about that. Can online relationships replace face-to-face interaction? No. Does that mean that the relationships you form are any less meaningful? I don't think so. I think I've formed many valuable friendships online. Let's review them, shall we?
I have friends from all over the country that I play Castle Age with. I'm part of a guild with them. We have a guild chat. I consider them family. Even after I was away for months, they never kicked me out of the Guild. They even seemed pretty happy to see me again. Yes, they remembered me.
Another valuable set of friendships I've earned has been on the FSTDT Forums. The forum is well moderated and the members are really smart and funny. We even have an IRC channel where we all hang out. I highly enjoy our friendships, and maybe I'll even meet some of them one day.
Of course, one of the most realistic chances I'll have for meeting online friends is through my Nebraska Bronies group. I'll only have to go across the state to meet most of them. One of these days I'll have to attend a meetup. Better yet, I may be able to attend a con[vention] one of these days. The people of the group are really awesome, IMO.
I think there's a reason they call it "social" media. You're supposed to use it to be social. I personally find the friendships I have forged to be very special, and I wouldn't give them away for anything.
I think what I said in the statewide brony group a few weeks ago sums up my feelings about online friends:

This group has got me thinking about a good episode idea.
I live in <location redacted>, so I can't really "attend" meetups. However, just talking to you guys through the group page has been a wonderful thing. I almost want them to do some kind of "pen pal" episode where the moral is "True friends aren't defined by distance." or something similar.

Granted, I'm dealing with DIGITAL pen pals instead of pen-and-paper pen pals, but I think the concept still remains.