**What Is Chatroulette?**
Chatroulette is a website that allows people to connect to eachother at random and communicate via their webcams, microphones or by simply typing. The website was launched in late 2009 by Andrey Ternovskiy, then 17. He designed the website in just two days after being inspired by Skype's video chat and the website soon became hugely popular. Within two months of its release, it was getting 50,000 users per day which is just mind blowing. Chatroulette is a worldwide website, but studies have shown that a majority of the users are American or French. Studies have also shown that the site is mainly used by males, and according to one study published in March 2010, 89% of users were male while just 11% were female. The study also showed various other intresting stuff, which can be found on the site's wikipedia page.

**Layout and Using The Site**
Chatroulette is a very easy to use site due to the simple layout and navigation options. The only thing that you need to use the site is Adobe Flash installed on your computer and preferably a webcam and microphone, however these two items are optional. To use the site, you simply go onto it and you will be greeted with the web page. The layout is very minimalistic but it's reasonably attractive and the colour scheme (grey and white) is unisex.

The webcams are on the left hand side and the chat room is on the right hand side, there is no option of changing the colour or size of your font but I find the font easy to read. The navigation buttons are in the top left corner, these are very important as they give you the option to disconnect from the person you are talking to if they are broadcasting inaproppiate content. There is also an option to customize your profile on there, such as your name, age, skype, location, phone number, favourite music etc. This is optional and can be left blank. The site is quite lightweight and very fast, I have never had issues with it freezing or anything like that.

**My Experience**
Chatroulette is quite a well known website within my group of friends and it's a bit of a private joke amongst most of us as it's such a rude (but funny) website. Alot of people have no idea what this website is, and it's quite hard to describe. The concept is simple but somewhat disturbing if i'm honest, as there are so many loonies around! Basically, chatroulette is a website which pairs two strangers up at random; you and another person, and lets them talk to eachother via their webcams and microphones. You don't have to have a microphone or webcam, however it's definetly a plus side to have a webcam as that way people are more likely to stop and talk to you rather than just 'nexting' you.

I have been going on chatroulette now for around a year, and in that time I have seen some pretty odd, and at times disturbing stuff. Alot of people are just silly or a little inapropiate but a few people go to the next level and broadcast very graphic, violent and sometimes illegal content such as videos of people fighting, gorey videos or unusual/disgusting pornographic videos. I have no idea how people do this but people obviously have a way of manipulating the system to let them broadcast videos in place of their webcam, which I think the site needs to tackle.

I also think that the site should ban people who aren't actually broadcasting themselves on their webcams, as alot of people seem to just have a message that they've written on paint saying stuff such as 'show me your boobs'. There is a spam button on the top of the chat which you click on if you feel uncomfortable with someone's broadcast and it will report them. I like that chatroulette ban people from their site, unlike similar websites who let the people who spoil it for everyone else continue lurking around.

I wouldn't reccomed going onto this site if you're sensitive or self concious, as many people decide that they want to throw insults; i've been called all sorts of names on there but you seriously just have to laugh - it's not a site to be taken seriously. Another obvious downside is the amount of perverts on the website who show their genitals on their webcam rather than their face like any normal person would. I can understand the 'thrill' that some people must get from doing it, however the amount of people doing it is absolutely shocking as around 95 percent of the people on the site are either naked or exposing themselves. I must admit though it's pretty funny at times and the option to next people comes in very handy; it can become a bit of a 'mission' with me and a friend to find a normal person to speak to, this will usually take around ten minutes, but it's worth it.

I have had some really nice conversations on chatroulette and it's provided plenty of laughs. It's fun to play games on there such as truth or dare etc and it passes the time. If you make a connection (relationship wise) with someone then there is nothing stopping you from sharing your skype or phone number, and I regulary talk to a few people via skype that I met originally on chatroulette. Most are American, including 2 soldiers, but one is Greek and one is French and they're all lovely, it's nice to talk to someone 'new' with different life experiences, and if it wasn't for chatroulette i'd never of gotten the chance.

**Overall**
This is a good site to pass the time, it's got a good range of different people on it who can be intresting, funny or just plain weird. It is not a site I would reccomend to spend much time on as it simply isn't healthy in my opinion (I prefer talking to 'real' people in person), but for the odd 20 minutes when you're feeling bored or want someone to talk to, this is ideal. It's also a good site to go on if you want a bit of a laugh with some friends, or even if you're after a bit of no strings attatched virtual fun. The disadvantages highly outweigh the advantages, and I would only reccomend this website to people who aren't offended by nudity and are over atleast 16.