ChatRoulette: The Nightclub of the Internet. It didn’t take long. But it seems a group of US researchers has won the race to pump out the first academic paper on ChatRoulette.

[pic credit: screen grab from from Casey Neistat on Vimeo; video below]

The Web Ecology Project researches social interaction and communities on the web; an interdisciplinary group based in Boston and New York City (lucky buggers). They hold research ‘camps’. This is one of the results. The report [pdf 628kb] is intended as an initial survey with some analysis – 30 interviews (why does no one stop to chat with me, but they stop for researchers?) and 201 sample sessions for data collection.

The results are interesting (if unsurprising if you’ve been on CR before – but it’s nice to get something academic). The basic trend? If you’re an English speaking young man surfing alone, who wants to speak to another English-speaking young man surfing alone, you’re in for a real treat. ChatRoulette is for you.

Here are some take outs:

There ain’t that much dick so stop whinging

Well, depends on what you think is a lot of dick. I’ve got a high threshold. 5 per cent of encounters were genitals. The researchers say that this suggests that – in spite of common assumptions – that the large majority of CR users are not nudie freaks who just want to flash and bat. Dick was outpaced by “nothing” (blank screen, empty room) at 7 per cent, and 9 per cent were altered videos, objects, masks and other weird shit like that. The vast, vast majority were actual humans (80 per cent).

Together Alone

I’ve always found ChatRoulette to be the collision course for extroverts and introverts. Exhibitionists and voyeurs. ChatRoulette isn’t a group activity for most (though it is fun to install a pretty girl and watch from the sidelines, thanks Sophie, thanks Kirsty). Of the encounters that were human (not gimp or plushie or suicide attempt), 86 per cent were surfing alone. The rest were twosomes, threesomes or more.

It’s a (young) man’s world

Unsurprisingly, for any one that’s been on CR, dudes rule big time. 87 per cent of users are male. Even in groups, you’re more likely to see the same gender – boys hanging out together, or girls (giggling) together (and making boys do rude stuff to each other — that’s not in the report, that’s just a fantasy). No analysis of sexual orientation was done in this report – are more straight guys getting their dicks out than gay? I’d like to know. Most users are aged 18-24.

Speak English

Four of the top twelve ranked countries (accounting for 34.6% of all traffic) use English as their primary language. The top user is the United States, followed by China, which maps against Internet users more generally. Europe is well represented in the top ten, in fact aside from China and the US, half are in the EU. Australia comes in at number 12.

Predictions

The report goes on to theorise that ChatRoulette is a “probabilistic online community”, “a community shaped by a platform which mediates the encounters between its users, specifically by eliminating lasting connections in the framework of the platform”. Any deeper connections must happen elsewhere.

The researchers predict a decline in dick, as more and more users come on to explore the community, rather than use it to exhibit. They predict a rise in the creative elements of the community – people playing games, music, linking to websites, and doing things to stimulate emotion (more of the crazy guy in the mask scaring you). The researchers say that if you’re on CR for sexual content, you’re going to have to click ‘Next’ more and more times to get it, which will turn you away to other websites where it’s a bit easier to get off, making CR even ‘cleaner’.

Look out for certain genres of content emerging. Like mask-wearing. The idea is that if enough users see the same thing again and again, a culture will build around that behaviour. Outside groups will start lobbing content into CR – like the blog CatRoulette, which encourages users to surf with their cat. And look out for celebrities too (the guy in the cat suit? the guy with the nazi flag). The researchers are predicting that identities will form if someone is seen by enough people.

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.