The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The webcam wonder taking the world by storm

During this technological age a new revolution is dawning. Worldwide movements are taking place all over the Internet, slowly building in momentum. Chatroulette is taking over and you didn’t even know about it.

The Internet has always been known for its constantly expanding content, and the concept of the social network, while not new, is one of the most rapidly expanding forms.

Three Web sites have gained notoriety from their success: MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Now the dawn of Chatroulette has gained attention from such sites and is poised for its own dedicated membership.

While these three Web sites focus on the concept of a user profile or having a circle of socialites to converse and share your thoughts and opinions with, Chatroulette focus on something else altogether.

Chatroulette focuses on that already established idea of social networking, but in a much more intimate manner. Instead of the usual profile-to-profile interaction, Chatroulette works in much the same manner as a chat room, except that it caters specifically to those Internet surfers, like myself, who have webcams.

The site connects you to a complete stranger and begins broadcasting your webcams with each other. Both users have the option to “next” the stranger and move onto a new individual.

The Web site was created by Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17-year-old student who resides in Moscow. Ternovskiy’s site generates close to 20,000 users a night.

While the site’s ingenuity is unremarkable, there are a few problems.

It is well known by the site’s most frequent users that a large number of users, mostly males, have found themselves a hobby in exposing their nether-most regions to unsuspecting viewers.

In addition, another game many male users take part in is trying to get female users to expose themselves as well.

Aside from these two perverse problems, Chatroulette offer individuals to connect to others across the globe.

Therefore, while I do believe Chatroulette is an awesome Web site, and you can have quite hilarious time while visiting, I do warn that this is not a site for those readers who have children.

Take for example, an experience of my own. A few weeks ago, while having nothing to do, a few friends and I went on the Web site.

After sifting through a few boring, (and perverse) individuals, we ran into a group from France, where we proceeded to have a very enlightening conversation.

Chatroulette, however, did not get its start without a few similar start up sites. One of the more notable beginnings of anonymous social networking was Omegle.

Omegle essentially was Chatroulette without the benefit of webcams. It introduced the idea of talking to random strangers and moving on whenever you pleased.

Ternovskiy’s idea of introducing the webcam to that same notion allows for much greater variation and in the end a much more enjoyable experience.

Whenever I visit Chatroulette, of course there are a few individuals who try to muddy my experience, but of course that is to be expected with any form of entertainment on the Internet.

Regardless of these interruptions, I always enjoy myself when I visit Chatroulette. If you are looking for a good time, and have nothing else to do, take a chance on ChatRoulette. You won’t be disappointed.

More to Discover