User blog comment:PlantyThePottedPlant/Random Topic Blogging II: Electric Blogaloo/@comment-3006892-20120115064857/@comment-5151799-20120116224753

Read that article - it was pretty insightful, actually. It basically talks about spending them with your friends and people you care about and so forth, to make you and others feel better and the like. So yeah, I'm pretty sure it's referring to real life friends, not those online.