If statement using a json response

What is the correct way to use an if statement with a json response?

This is my current code.

<?php
$link =file_get_contents('xxxxxxxxxx');
$res=json_decode($link, true);
echo "Currently: ";
if ($res['response'][0]['personastate'] == '1') {
echo "Online";
else if
echo "Offline";
}
?>

Printing the response via

print $res['response'][0]['personastate'];

works just fine, resulting in a 1 or a 0 being printed.

Where did I go wrong? I can't find any information on anything similar to my problem.