Social Media Strangers
There have been a few revelations on the internet regarding social connections. Facebook is still a roaring success of keeping in touch with user-selected friends and family, Twitter allows quick, rapid conversations within 140 characters. Two of the latest sites that are creating some buzz are ChatRoulette and Mystery Seeker. Both sites feed off randomness but in different extremes.
ChatRoulette
One of the latest video fads, large enough to be featured in Fast Company (here), pairs you up with random strangers via video or text-only conversations. What originated from the mind of a 17-year old Russian kid, has quickly turned to a exhibitionists dream. Picture having a conversation about comic books with a fat guy wearing a bear costume, or a discussion of Latin in the 21st century with a dominatrix and her hand puppet… The opportunities are endless. It’s kind of cool to interact with others you wouldn’t normally think to, but as with most web platforms, it hasn’t taken long for there to be large amounts of sexual content. BEWARE!
Mystery Seeker (formerly Mystery Google)
The foundation of this site is based around the search engine Google, with the spin of receiving search results from the previous user. Naturally, I had to try it out. I looked up “Cat food” and received actual Google Search results for “Strep Throat”. Meh, the novelty has now worn off. It’s a kitchy, gimmick site that isn’t going to get any traction. So why is it still a hot topic online? Is it an opportunity to expand knowledge on topic you haven’t thought of? Or is it just an opportunity for voyeurism? I bet you will try this one out at least once.
Are these “random” sites the next progression of social interaction? Or is it just a quick zig when others zag experiment? What are your thoughts??
Michela
March 10, 2010 1:26 pmI think that unlike social media outlets such as facebook, twitter and linkedin, ‘random’ sites are more for fun and simple entertainment rather than a legitimate way to network and brand yourself. Not to say that two business professionals looking for the same thing would never meet on chat roulette, just that the likelyhood of this occuring is very low. Regardless, I think I would be wary of anyone looking for something serious on a website that has started to gain a reputation for being, as you said ‘an exibitionists dream’. I’ll take my online social interatiction without a side of exposed genitals, please.
redfelt13
March 11, 2010 4:43 pmHey Michela, how true. I guess it just seems odd to have a SM site that hasn’t been built and campaigned to revolutionize my life.
Is it fun, sure. One of the guys in the office is now addicted. Sans genitals.