As an example of a group I’ve recently become a part of, I go to a sizable convention once a year. I met some people there and we traded Discord usernames. They

As an example of a group I’ve recently become a part of, I go to a sizable convention once a year. I met some people there and we traded Discord usernames. They invited me to their private group and we’ve coordinated events, and there are four other people that I’ve yet to meet in this group, and one is rooming with me at the convention. So I guess in this case our communications are “we’re soon to be real life friends”. Also a coworker who lives in a different country who hasn’t gotten to meet us is in my group chats for my gaming group. We’d be in real life friends if the opportunity presents itself (maybe at a conference or something) but we’ve never met physically. That said 90% of people in my group chats are people I’ve met in person, just trying to justify a few exceptions I personally have.