Webcams take social networking to another level

First there was Russian roulette, a game first played by unwilling prisoners in 19th century where participants would place a single round in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against their head and pull the trigger.

Then came speed dating, the mid-nineties phenomenon where time-conscious singles would engage in five-minute dates with a mass of people in a bid to meet as many as they could within a set period.

Now there’s an online version of the two games — Chatroulette. It capitalises on randomness.

If you have a web camera attached to your device, you can visit the website and engage in a global peek show, as the service selects a user from a pool of around 35,000 people and lets you see what they are doing. Players in this online game of dare must activate their webcams and click “play.”

They will then view real-time images of people from all over the world who have similarly activated their webcams and who are on the website.

There is the option to chat with users, who pop up one at a time in a small box, or you can simply click a button and move onto the next online exhibitionist.

Call it the next step in the progression of social networking.

Already, the website has drawn controversy, as some people take it too far and use the opportunity to expose themselves.

Generally, most visitors are civil, but a few wait to pounce on their virtual visitors in strange costumes, while some play music or perform short dramas for their online audience.

CNN says the website has created a niche following of enthusiasts who eagerly wait for users to visit their home or office, with some site addicts going strong in front of their global audience for over six hours a day.

On Chatroulette, CNN says, every interaction is an adventurous gamble.

There’s no heed to class, race, geography, age, politics or religion: no way to tell who will appear on the other side of the camera.

The fact that this is a direct contrast to more popular social websites such as Twitter or Facebook could place Chatroultte in the league of a new social phenomenon, say analysts.

Industry watchers say in the new social network world, audio and video will soon join the visual many are accustomed to, via the webcam. Ironically, inappropriate use of webcams featured prominently in another landmark story this week in the wires.

The FBI has stepped in to investigate a Philadelphia school whose officials would activate webcams on their computers to see what their unsuspecting students were up to. Once activated, webcams will capture anything happening in the room where they are located.

An affected student argues that his rights have been violated by their teachers, saying it is an invasion of privacy, and, therefore, against the law.

“The issues raised by these allegations are wide-ranging and involve the meeting of the new world of cyberspace with that of physical space,” US Attorney Michael Levy said in a statement.