The example in the article about Achilles and Patroclus is not what we would call a "friendship": Achilles was Patroclus' mentor, what means he was his master and had sexual privileges over him. It's not a one-to-one, both-are-equal relationship; it's more similar to a master-slave one. They were sexual partners, not friends ("friend" had different connotations in the classic world).
Yes. I read the article, becoming more sceptical as I went. In my opinion, he underplays modern relationships (relegating them all to Facebook-like) and overplays classical relationships.
It would be good to recognise that he is controversial and is an English Lit professor, not a historian or anthropologist.