Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The Making Of a Viral Video: Chatroulette + Improv Piano Player

Chatroulette is a website that pairs random strangers for webcam-based conversations and perhaps the most exciting phenomenon on the Internet right now. The idea behind it is as simple as it is genious - visitors to the website randomly begin an online chat (video and text) with another visitor. Created by Andrey Ternovskiy, a 17-year-old high school student in Moscow, the site was launched in November 2009 and was originally known as Head-to-Head, according to Wikipedia. It gained popularity in February 2010 after being featured on Good Morning America, in The New York Times, in New York magazine, and on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Part of the thrill is of course that you don't know whom you will meet. Celebrities claiming to have used Chatroulette include Kelly Osbourne, Joel Madden, Nicole Richie, and Perez Hilton. It's one of those underground phenomena that will only be cool for a while, but it's already creating stars of its own as well.

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