How do I make new friends on the internet?

One great way would be to download an IRC program and then wiki some stuff on connecting to an IRC server on room. A good general purpose server is irc.freenode.net, then connect to a room that interests you such as #cooking, etc
Another alternative is to become a member of a forum. You can find forums for just about anything, just Google “cooking forum” or the like
Have fun being part of a community, but never forget about reality, and real people. It’ll happen sooner or later and hopefully you’re realize what’s happening and help stop it, otherwise it’ll eat your life…like it did too me a few years back.

IRC and forums are more or less becoming obsolete, at least that’s my opinion.

Social websites have been growing very popular over the last couple of years, such as facebook, myspace, friendster…

I should have been more specific. I was looking for a way to make real life friends through the use of the internet. I’ve found social websites are really for the friends you already have or meeting people through the friends you already have. I want to make a friend, that I have absolutely no connection to, for real life hanging out.

a similar question was asked a while ago: How to find online friends

Some sites like http://www.metafilter.com/ have regular meet-ups. Visit http://metatalk.metafilter.com/ for meet-up info.

And other sites like http://drinkingliberally.org/ are cool for meeting people IRL. That last link is good if you are a liberal. But sites like that exist for any hobby/political persuasion. Actually, if you in any way care about politics now is a great time to looking into meet-ups for your candidate. (assuming you are in the United States)

EDIT :: the messages are getting messed up. It looked fine In the preview.

meetup.com and craigslist.org are good ways to find local friends, especially with similar interests, as well as social networking websites. Just be careful about meeting up. You know the rules, meet in busy places like a coffee shop, mall, etc. Bring a friend?

surprisingly, I think this is one area that second life excels at. Its certainly hard to find local people, but there may be a local group for your area. Otherwise though, its easy to talk to just about anyone. And if you spend any amount of time online with them, you can actually get to know them pretty well. Just a thought.