The social aspect is where he gets it wrong, falling back on the old trope that face-to-face communication is always better.

It's not. Some people communicate better through the written word than the spoken one.

And for many, the intrinsic anonymity of the Internet offers opportunities that can't be obtained elsewhere: be it griefing, or being able to choose what part of the self to reveal to others, or not immediately being judged by appearances over what one has to say.

Social relationships online allow for a sizeable amount of projection. The more people assume the other is a lot like them, based on the limited info and communication, the closer they're going to feel as a result.

Lastly, there's the whole geographic aspect of people with similar interests, separated by many leagues in reality. Face-to-face communications only gets you so far, unless you can afford lots and lots of plane tickets.