Chatroulette
| File:Chatroulette screenshot (non-free).png | |
Type of site | Instant messaging, video chat, stranger chat |
|---|---|
| Owner | Andrey Ternovskiy |
| Created by | Andrey Ternovskiy |
| Revenue | Advertising |
| URL | Chatroulette.com |
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Chatroulette is a website that pairs random strangers for webcam-based conversations. Visitors to the website randomly begin an online chat (video, audio and text) with another visitor. At any point, either user may leave the current chat by initiating another random connection.
Overview
The Chatroulette web site was created by Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17-year-old high school student in Moscow.[2] Ternovskiy says the concept arose from video chats he used to have with friends on Skype, and that he wrote the first version of Chatroulette in "two days and two nights".[3] Ternovskiy chose the name "Chatroulette" after watching The Deer Hunter, a 1978 film set in the Vietnam War in which prisoners of war are forced to play Russian roulette.[4]
In early November 2009, shortly after the site launched, it had 500 visitors per day.[3] One month later there were 50,000.[3] In February 2010, the site was featured on Good Morning America,[5] on Newsnight in the United Kingdom,[6] in The New York Times,[2] in New York magazine,[7] and on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.[8] In that month, there were about 35,000 people on Chatroulette at any given time.[9] Around the beginning of March, Ternovskiy estimated the site to have around 1.5 million users, approximately 33% of them from the United States and 5% from Germany.[3]
The website uses Adobe Flash to display video and access the user's webcam. Flash's peer-to-peer network capabilities (via RTMFP) allow almost all video and audio streams to travel directly between user computers, without using server bandwidth.
An early growth phase was funded by a $10,000 investment from his parents which he soon paid back. As of March 2010[update], Ternovskiy runs the site from his childhood bedroom, assisted by four programmers who are working remotely and the site is supported through advertising links to an online dating service.[3]
Culture
A participant whose chat partner clicks the Chatroulette Next button to move on to a new partner is described as being "nexted".[10]
Celebrities claiming to have used Chatroulette include Kelly Osbourne, Joel Madden, Nicole Richie, and Perez Hilton.[11] Unverified sightings of celebrities have been reported. These include Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba and BJ Penn.[11][12] Numerous people also reported seeing the Jonas Brothers, but it was later announced on their Twitter page that they had not been using the service, and any such encounters were not them.[13]
On February 27 at the Soundwave Festival in Melbourne, Australia, Faith No More streamed their festival performance live on Chatroulette.[14]
Chatroulette missed connections attempts to help Chatroulette users that were unintentionally cut off mid-conversation before exchanging contact details to reconnect with their chat partner.[15]
The website requires users to be at least 16 years old, and prohibits pornographic behavior. Users who experience harassment or witness illegal, immoral, or pornographic activity may report the offending user. After three users have complained about the same participant within 5 minutes, he or she is banned from the service[3] for 40 minutes. Unfortunately, there are no measures in place to prevent abuse of the reporting system which in fact has become an issue. It is not uncommon for participants to experience a succession of 3-5 second session intervals caused by others rapidly cycling through the system in search of a partner of interest, so the room for the abuse of three users in a 5 minute span can be extremely high.
Niche sites with functionality imitating Chatroulette have been growing in number, although none has yet to gain its popularity and notoriety. [16]
References
- ^ Alexa Internet (30 March 2010). "Site Info from Alexa: Chatroulette.com: Traffic Stats". www.alexa.com. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ a b Stone, Brad (2010-02-13). "Chatroulette's Creator, 17, Introduces Himself - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com". Bits.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- ^ a b c d e f Yevgeny Kondakov and Benjamin Bidder: 17-Year-Old Chatroulette Founder: 'Mom, Dad, the Site Is Expanding' Interview with Andrey Ternovskiy, Der Spiegel, 5 March 2010
- ^ Nick Bilton: One on One: Andrey Ternovskiy, Creator of Chatroulette (interview) Bits Blog, The New York Times online, March 12, 2010
- ^ "Chatroulette: Talking to Strangers on Internet - ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/2010/03/tuesday_9_march_2010.html
- ^ Anderson, Sam (2010-02-05). "Is ChatRoulette the Future of the Internet or Its Distant Past? - New York Magazine". Nymag.com. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- ^ "Tech-Talch - Jon encounters several reporters and naked masturbating men as he explores Chatroulette". www.thedailyshow.com/. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
- ^ John D. Sutter, CNN (2010-02-24). "Chatroulette offers random webcam titillation - CNN.com". Edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ "Chatroulette: 71% men, 15% women and 14% perverts". 2010-03-08. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^ a b "10 Celebs you may chance upon on Chatroulette". 2010-03-03. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
- ^ "Twitter is so 2009. Celebs discover scary new online social site, Chat Roulette". 2010-02-25. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
- ^ http://www.twitlonger.com/show/dh3g4
- ^ http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/home-it/37217-faith-no-more-stream-entire-show-to-chatroulette
- ^ "Calling All Romantics: Chatroulette Now Has Its Own Missed Connections". mashable.com. 2010-02-24. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
- ^ "Chatroulette Clones: A New Market for Random Connections". readwriteweb.com. 2010-02-26. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
External links
- Chatroulette.com (official website)
- New York Times Bits Blog: Chatroulette’s Creator, 17, Introduces Himself (February 13, 2010)
- [1] (Barnett about CR. CNN)