Invite colleagues
So everything we have learned about building communities online can now be thrown out. I have visited a new site called, Chatroulette. A site developed by a Russian guy that is so simple in it's concept that it has become hugely trafficked and could re-define the way we look at 'engagement' from a sociological perspective online. Basically, you can run your camera in one window then click a button to randomly be partnered with someone else in another window. A new face-to-face video conversation with a random stranger.
A quite surreal experience and although I only spent a short time clicking through 20 or so different 'video matches' I got the feeling that I was in some crazy speed dating game where within a second or two a new window would with a new stranger and with just a flash of their face the screen would go black and a new face would appear.... it seems that I must have not been the right gender or looked 'wrong' and my matched video partner had selected to move onto another random stranger..... Here is a little more about this site..
The site is simple: Just activate your web-cam and click "play." Then, as people from all over the world pop up one at a time in a box on your screen, you decide whether or not to chat with them. If you don't like the looks of things, click "next" and the site shuffles you to someone new. When I was checking this site out, it had 27, 343 people online.... I was amazed that this site would have thousand engaged in some bazaar voyeurism but actually human nature almost makes the temptation to see who would be behind the next window quite understandable....
On a negative note, in the short time I spent on this site I saw a couple of naked men, some very dubious looking characters (men) and only 2 women (out of 25 or so windows that flashed by). You have no idea of where these people are located but all were Caucasian for the exception of one Asian face (who was one of the females in my random set).
The rules on the site say you must be 16 years old to 'play' but there is not validation of age and given my experiences this is certainly a site that would require some parent controls. Actually, I like the basic idea of this random chat concept but for me this site in it's current format is one that I would support the Chinese Government in blocking.
If you have used it, what did you think? Is there some kind of rebellion to regulated friending sites like facebook and linkedin and this site provides a new form of online entertainment? Please log in and give us your option.
Written on Monday, 22 February 2010 23:26 by Matt McDougall
