The Internet - helps making new relationships or brings isolation and loneliness?

As the Internet is expanding, more and more people are joining chatrooms, web communities, as well as e-mail and communicator services. They often state that it gives them an opportunity to make new relationships, to develop their interests with people who are after their own hearts. At the same time, others claim that using the Internet leads to isolation and solitude. Both statements seem to be reasonable; here I would like to discuss the arguments for and against.
At first, we have to admit that communicating over the Internet lets us make friends with people we would never be able to meet in the real world. Here I mean people from another towns or even countries, with Internet giving us the chance to talk to any of them.
Secondly, making relationships with people from different countries lets us take a wider look on world's cultural variety and complexity. From only one perspective, it is often difficult to consider different problems properly; with Internet, we can expand our views on life and another people.
Moreover, varied community channels make us able to meet people being into certain subjects and develop our interests in it, as well. There's no need to prove that it is much easier to make friends with somebody who has similar hobbies and views on life.
On the other hand, we cannot claim that the Internet has advantages only. For instance, we can mention that living in the virtual world can make you lose your real-world friends, let alone becoming much less sociable.
Relationships that are made over the Internet also appear to be impermanent and short-lasting with lack of real contact - that cannot be substituted with online chatting - being the main reason of those relationships' breakdowns.
Last but not least, we can never be sure whether a person considered as a friend does not lie to us. Internet makes people anonymous so that, all in all, we cannot fully trust everyone. This may mean that, in fact, we have no real friends, even if we are convinced of one's honesty and reliability.
To sum up, we should state that Internet can be a source for friends if only we can use it properly. Therefore, we should not deny its advantages but learn how to make relationships safely - and not to become addicted of virtual friendships, particularly by making friends in the real world.