The Chatroulette phenomenon

I recently read an article about the creator of Chatroulette in The New Yorker that left an impression on me:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/05/17/100517fa_fact_ioffe

For those of you who don’t know this website (I didn’t know before reading the article), Chatroulette (http://www.chatroulette.com) is a simple site where you can videochat with random people around the world that you have never met and will probably never see again.

The creator of this idea is a 18 year old Russian boy that apparently wanted to emulate the atmosphere of a souvenir shop where he had worked, in which he was interacting with tourists in different languages. From that, the idea evolved into a platform in which people communicate anymously which is being heavily criticized by the media. According to a study done by Techcrunch, 13% of the users are what they classify as “perverts”… See their study for further details:

http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/16/chatroulette-stats-male-perverts/

The most interesting part about this phenomenon is the psychology behind engaging in communication over webcam with a complete stranger. What is the point of talking to someone you don’t know? If you want to meet new people, isn’t it easier to doit in person instead? Is the Internet changing the way we interact with each other?