Oh, yes! Some of my on-line friends are quite integrated into my life. With instant photo sharing, texting, voice, and video chatting, the difference between real and virtual becomes quite slight.

I’ve known Fred Shirley for three years, since we met on Quora. While we’ve never met physically, we probably know as much about each other’s lives as if we were living in the same town.

Certainly, if he could pop around for coffee now and then, a different dimension would introduce itself, but lacking that doesn’t make our friendship less important or valuable.