This isn't my experience, but two close friends of mine are now in their mid-30s and got together at like...16 years old online in the mid-90s on a Simpsons chat group. They maintained a long distance relationship for five years before she emigrated to Canada. Now they've got two kids and are the cutest couple in the universe.
And this was before face time, when long distance was super expensive, and when the internet was slow as shit. It doesn't always work, but it certainly -can- work.