Chatroulette - the next Internet phenomenon?

So I was introduced to Chatroulette (Chatroulette.com) for the first time a few days ago at a friend's place. We were bored, and she thought it would be a funny way to kill time. Was it funny? Certainly. Was it also really really bloody weird? Absolutely. Chatroulette is a new website that brings you face-to-face with an endless stream of strangers via webcam. Think of Skype, but way simpler and with complete strangers that you can sift through randomly.

While the site is pretty perverse thus far (i.e. several people tried to solicit my friend for cyber tomfoolery), there's some relatively normal people on it too. And, for some strange reason, the site is oddly addictive. It draws on the awesome power of the Internet to connect random strangers and make things that shouldn't be fun, fun. Thus far, the site has garnered a rapidly growing cult following. Apparently it started in December '09 with only 300 users, and quickly grew to 10,000 by the beginning of Feb '10. Even Ashton Kutcher (the celebrity sponsor of Twitter) has been on it, showing his support (http://guestofaguest.com/technology/will-ashton-kutcher-do-for-chatroulette-what-he-did-for-twitter/)

The site, the brainchild of a 17 year old Russian boy who was literally bored and wanted to do something new, has no revenue model to speak of, and is built off spare parts. Nevertheless, there is a growing buzz about the service, and I predict that in the next few months, we'll be hearing a whole heckuva lot more about it. Could it be the next Twitter? Possibly. In any case, I'm sure this phenomenon isn't going away any time soon.