>I'm somewhat not willing to share anything personal, so it's hard to break the ice.
Imo, it's easier to share personal things online than in real life. Online, close to initial meeting, you can put your own personal preferences and such out on the table. You can then terminate the friendship and search for another, or continue on your common ground.
For example, I could never talk about my sexual preferences offline with people. They'd have to be very close friends. About all I'm willing to share with people is that I don't find lesbian action attractive, but that's pretty much the depth of what I'll share. I might describe my reasoning to my preferences.
However, online, you can just throw it out there, and who's going to care? You're partially anonymous, anyway, and even if you're not anonymous, it's not like you'll ever see them offline.
IRL is tough, because the chances are if you met them the first time to talk about something, you might possibly meet them again, perhaps even on a daily basis. The problem is in that you cannot be too forward in real life, or it may have repercussions. Online, there are low-to-no repercussions.