A new website is sweeping the internet gathering a group of followers that is ever growing, including some celebrities. The site is called Chatroulette, a place where you are put at random with another person from anywhere around the world with a webcam and web access. Why is this becoming so popular?

The Chatroulette web site was created by Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17-year-old high school student in Moscow. Ternovskiy said the idea arose from the video chats from Skype. He proceeded to write the program under three days. Chatroulette debuted in early November of 2009. When it first came out, the traffic was around 500 visitors a day. Now the number has sky-rocketed to 35,000 as of February 2010 and 1.5 million for March 2010.

This new concept of randomly chatting brings back the memories of old school anonymity of the web like the old random chat rooms that used to be so popular.  One reason people choose to use this site is because the can become exhibitionists on the web cam and remain anonymous without having the backlash of crude comments on a YouTube wall or FaceBook. You can dance around in a chicken suit or talk to a random person about your drunken escapade in Vegas with strippers without regret for the most part, unless someone is actually recording the video with another program. Though it’s still anonymous for the most part.

One of the reasons why it is such an addicting place is the fact that you could get “randomed” with really interesting people, and if you get tired of the person, or if something gets a little inappropriate, all you have to do is hit the “Next” button. Of course, there’s always the disheartening action of you being “randomed” by a stranger. Then you’re left to wonder whether you just weren’t hot enough or looked too boring.

Another amazing aspect of Chatroulette is that you can become randomed with people from all around the world. About 33% of the Chatroulette population is from the US and 5% from Germany, the rest is all over the place. Whenever I tried it for the first time, I was randomed with a guy from northern Germany who spoke no English. Luckily, I’m somewhat fluent in German, so I was able to speak to him and practice my German with him. It was an interesting experience just speaking with someone from around the world with no connections, in a different language, just shooting the breeze. Another worthy encounter was a guy from Austin, Texas who was wearing a cowboy hat and doing the dishes. You never know who will pop up on your screen next.

But before you decide to pop on in and take a look, let me warn you, there are some instances where you will run into the perverts that will decide to aim their web cams down south for a sight you more than likely would not want to see. Approximately one in 10 users encountered the naughty bits. But what’s great about Chatroulette, is that all you have to do is “next” the person. That’s all I did. You have to be able to put up with the weirdos to attain some interesting conversations.

There are even some celebrities jumping on the Chatroulette bandwagon. Kelly Osbourne, Joel Madden, Nichole Richie, and Perez Hilton all claim to be users. It’s even been featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and an episode of South Park.

There’s even been an instance of a live concert where Ben Folds does an impromptu session of singing about whoever pops up on the screen next.

I think that Chatroulette is here to stay. It is the perfect time sink for people who are bored, lonely or just want to have fun and act crazy. The traffic may die down due to the newness of it wearing off, but I think that people will continue to use it for fun and other strange activities. As for me, I’ll probably stop by every now and then if I just want to talk with random people or run into the crazy guy who wears a cat suit.

For other funny Chatroulette screen shots, try bestofchatroulette and bestchatroulettescreenshots. Warning: Some of these are not safe for work!

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