Many people are familiar with the video web cam centric site Chatroulette.com. Created last year by Russian teen Andrey Ternovskiy, Chatroulette has garnered a lot of press in the past year and reached its apex of popularity at the beginning of 2010.

For those who aren’t familiar with ChatRoulette, it’s a website that allows two people the ability to chat in real time with each other while they view each other over a web cam on their computer or laptop. Users are connected to others from other cities, states and even other countries. Connecting with someone on Chatroulette is a random experience. Chatroulette has been featured on tv shows, movies, news, social networks and has been used and promoted by stars, athletes and even a few politicians.

Today, a message appeared on chatroulette.com:

The experiment #1 is over now. Thanks for participating.
Renewed and updated version of the website will be launched today.

We’ll have to tune in to find out what the new features will be but most think it will be the ability to have group chats and to possibly even allow the ability to invite friends. Some believe that a nudity feature might be implemented which would make it more family friendly and would likely draw more visitors.

There have been a number of successful viral videos created by users of chatroulette. Currently a chatroulette viral campaign was launched which features an attractive young woman apparently taking clothes off while young male viewers watch in anticipation. The female chatroulette user then shocks by turning into a zombie like “possessed” creature. The viral videos, created around chatroulette videos is for the upcoming The Last Exorcism Movie. See the video below:

Using video to for social marketing and viral advertising has really matured over the past 4 years. With the increasing use of web cams and smart phone video conference capabilities such as that of Apple’s FaceTime for the iPhone, communicating with friends, strangers and family via web videos will only gain in popularity. How will online marketing and viral advertising adjust? Is Chatroulette the future of online communication or will it always be nothing more than a niche form of conversing?

We’ll find out. I have a feeling a lot of companies both large and small will be taking advantage of interacting with potential and current customers with video conferencing. What will be first a novelty form of marketing will likely turn into an established and well respected, popular form of online marketing and reputation management.

I hope you found this article enjoyable. As always, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below or contact Steffan.

EDIT: Turns out the changes were purely cosmetic. Nothing revolutionary and no new app to help blur ore remove those pesky individuals who just want to show off their genitalia. Oh well, maybe in the next update.