I'd have been able to answer this a few years ago as I seemed to collect a massive amount of online friends from all over the world. Now, I can barely hold a conversation with anyone. I've changed a bit I know, but I've also noticed folk are a lot more standoffish, more cynical and if you show them any friendliness they seem to look for a catch.
The longer social media has gone on, the less social people have become. I notice it hugely in videogames too, as little as 5 years ago you could join a game lobby and people would be chatting away, usually at least half - and yeah some were trolls but mostly you'd get normal guys and lasses chatting. Now, it's rare as rocking horse shit for anyone to have a mic, and half the time if they do they don't speak, you just hear music or breathing.
If you want to talk to anyone online now, the best way seems to start an argument. Be nice to someone and they'll often ignore you, insult them and you'll have a hard time getting rid of them. It's a peculiar phenomena, so many angry, argumentative folk around. It wasn't always like that, I've been online since the MSN and Wap days, and I frequented the chat rooms on Dreamarena for the Dreamcast long before social media was a big thing - people were far more friendly and approachable then, even the trolls were amusing and not that offensive.
