A person that you've met on the internet, and whom you don't know where they live, isn't a friend, they are just some person on the 'net whom you happen to agree with and talk with.
Next step up? Someone you see regularly and say hello to, maybe a bit of casual conversation. That isn't a friend either, it's an acquaintance.
Someone you see regularly, shake hands with, hug on occasion, share your goals and aspirations with, are concerned about their health and well being?
THAT is a friend.
And.......friendships aren't easy, because if they were, you wouldn't work on them, and when they end, they wouldn't hurt so bad.
I don't call anyone friend unless I mean it. And that includes shaking your hand at least several times before calling you that.