I don't think online communication and in-person communication are identical, but depending on the person, they aren't necessarily better/worse. The people I know the best personally are people with whom I talk at least semi-regularly via all three of: IRL, real-time text chat, and email; and who are themselves also at least somewhat "fluent" in all three media. Some of my closest friends are people I see occasionally irl but often online, so I'm not sure it even correlates that well (at least for me). You get different sides of a person via each of them I find. Some people are of course much stronger at one or another one. There are some people where if I were required to only interact with them face-to-face it'd be weird; and other people where if I were required to interact with them only online it'd be weird.
I don't think online communication and in-person communication are identical, but depending on the person, they aren't necessarily better/worse. The people I know the best personally are people with whom I talk at least semi-regularly via all three of: IRL, real-time text chat, and email; and who are themselves also at least somewhat "fluent" in all three media. Some of my closest friends are people I see occasionally irl but often online, so I'm not sure it even correlates that well (at least for me). You get different sides of a person via each of them I find. Some people are of course much stronger at one or another one. There are some people where if I were required to only interact with them face-to-face it'd be weird; and other people where if I were required to interact with them only online it'd be weird.