Chatroulette: chat via webcam with random (sometimes naked) strangers

by Jay Hathaway (RSS feed) Feb 16th 2010 at 4:00PM

Chatroulette is the hot new site that throws you into a webcam chat with another randomly-selected user, until you hit "next" and move on to someone else. It's become all the rage in the past few weeks, especially with tech journalists, sociologists, teenagers and creepy naked dudes.

Chatroulette is not for the faint of heart. You might run into someone dancing, making balloon animals, touching themselves inappropriately, or researching an article about Chatroulette. It's sort of a scary experience, but it can also be fun, especially with the knowledge that you're only one button away from getting out of any creepy situation. When someone "nexts" you, though, it kind of makes you wonder what you did. Boring? Offensive? Ugly? In my case, probably all three.

I don't think Chatroulette is going to be a regular habit for me, but I can totally see the appeal. I was a teenager back in the days of AOL chatrooms, and this seems like a similar phenomenon with better technology. While it might not be everyone's cup of uncomfortable, sometimes-naked tea, I'm sure it'll serve as the setting for plenty of social experiments, interesting conversations, and awkward flasher moments in the future.

Not really my cup of tea but interesting nonetheless. @Jamed may have a new purpose in life, though - someone has to be the creepy naked dude. :)