OkCupid Review

 Alright, this is a pretty awesome free online dating site. It rivals POF in the awesomeness category, but it isn’t quite as popular, at least according to it’s Alexa ranking and other such traffic data I’ve been able to get my hands on. However, it seems to be in a close second place among free USA dating visitors I believe. And, a testament to its success was that the founder sold it for only a mere $50 million, plus another $40 million in earnout potential. And they sold it to none other than match.com, so yea, let’s just say this site and its owners have done well. And, rightly so, because it is a very smooth running application with a lot of nice features.

One of the premises behind the rise of OkCupid seems to be their matching system. Basically, it will ask a user all sorts of questions that the OkCupid team seems to have determined to make a big difference as to whether or not people will work out. Then, if you have compatible answers with people, some sort of what I’m guessing is a points-based system is used to tabulate and compare potential matches, and then tell you what you’re percentage of match is with relation to some other user. So, you will see this other user, and it will say “80% match” which generally is a pretty good score to see, and that basically means that you both answered questions in such a way that you will both agree on a lot of big issues in life and thus be more compatible with one another and thus be more likely to work out. I think you get the idea here, so rather than keep blabbering why don’t you just go give them a try at www.okcupid.com.

Chattino Review

 Chattino is a typical Chatroulette copycat, BUT is does have a bit of a quirk about it, which is that it is primarily focused on attracting users from Germany! Yep, they be speaking German all up in here, and it gets crazayyyy. There are quite a few visitors online at any given time, so that’s a good sign, and you can definitely get in some solid language practice if that’s something you’re into. And, of course, if you happen to be German yourself, you can talk to your comrades rather than random strangers from all over the world, although, I shouldn’t say that is for sure what will happen because the site isn’t limited by IP or anything, so you could still get a person from anywhere in the world, but I think you get the idea.

Um, anyway, the software itself seems pretty decent. Have yet to see any errors or bugs that threw me off while I was next-ing people and what not. There also weren’t too many nasty naked dudes, so that was a good thing, although maybe I just got lucky, who knows. The website itself loaded at about an average speed I would say for a roulette video chat site, so nothing amazing or horrible in that regard. Hmmm, I guess that really about covers everything. Oh wait, the site also has a link to a “games” section, but it seems to be completely unrelated to the chat deal, so I guess there isn’t much to say about that other than if you want easy access to some flash games at the same place you random chat, this might be the site for you! Woohoo! Find them at www.chattino.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

Flipchat Review

 So, Flipchat isn’t just a copy of Chatroulette, like a lot of these other sites I’ve already written about. Instead, it has it’s own special nextra features that kind of well, actually set it apart, which is really a nice change of pace considering all the copycats I’ve had to cover, aye. But, regardless of the fact that it has some uniqueness about it, Flipchat still has the same bare bones roulette random video chat functionality as all the rest. And, just like the rest, having enough users again is basically the most important thing, and this site has quite a few, but it’s on the border of not having enough. Thus, it is treading a thin line between existence and non-existence, because as soon as it falls to too few users online, it will go downhill at essentially an exponential rate, in sort of a vicious cycle where people show up and then leave before the next person shows up, and so on.

Anyway, for now, they live on! And they have a registration system, which is pretty dang cool. You see, you can be going along pressing “next” and surfing all the users who are available and then when you finally find someone you like, and who hopefully also likes you, you can click the “add to friends” button and just like that you are both connected forever so that you can entertain one another in perpetuity! However, there is one catch, the other person needs to also be logged in. This can be a bit of a problem, because a lot of people are too lazy to register, or simply don’t want to register. I’m not really sure how or if this can even be solved, especially with a site with so few users, but I hope they come up with some sort of crazy cool solution! Check them out at www.flipchat.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

WocChat Review

This is one of the older random chat sites, that I believe along with iMeetzu actually came out before Chatroulette did, although it was a long time ago so it’s hard to remember exactly the order of things. Anyway, back in its heyday it was actually pretty big, and even now it’s still decent. The big thing about it that really set it apart from the rest was that it had a whole social network attached to the random roulette cam chat feature. This was a pretty cool extra thing to have, and they seemed to get quite a few members, at least for a while there.

The software program for the random chat room actually seems to be embedded from Bazoocam now, which is interesting. At least that guarantees there will be plenty of people available to chat with, but it makes me wonder if WocChat has always been owned by the same people, or if they were bought out. I guess I will never know, dang. In any event, since the software is embedded from a bigger more popular site, it runs perfectly fine, as I’m sure you would imagine, so you’re good to go in that regard. I guess the real benefit then to checking out WocChat is taking a look at all the other features on the website, so if that interests you head on over to www.wocchat.com and give them a try!

Facebuzz Review

 This site used to be a lot bigger than it is now, but it’s still got a decent following. Initially Facebuzz capitalized on being a Chatroulette imitator / alternative while the buzz about Chatroulette was still going strong, and that worked wonders for it. The site also came up with a smart plan that involved allowing other site owners to embed their chat software in their websites, such that no matter what site users were on they still accessed the same database of available users. This allowed Facebuzz to have a bigger pool of visitors available for other visitors to connect with, and helped propel them, at least at the beginning.

But what about nowadays, you ask? Well, they still maintain a decent level of users online to chat with. However, they obviously aren’t where they once were, as already noted. In terms of the software system, it works pretty well, and seems to be running on flash. That means if you want to use it on your iPhone, you’re out of luck unless you download a special browser for it. BUT, even if you do that, you probably won’t be able to use video, it just doesn’t work as far as I can tell, but there might be a way if you jailbreak your phone, I really need to look into it. The truth of the matter really is that you’ll have problems using pretty much any random roulette video chat service on your iPhone. Anyway, all that aside, Facebuzz IS still worth trying out, so give them a visit at www.facebuzz.com! Update: Site no longer exists.

Lollichat Review

So, as far as I am aware, Lollichat used to be quite popular back in the day. I’m not exactly sure how it went from nothing to popular, back to nothing, and now back to a decent number of users, or why for that matter, but yea, that seems to be the story. In essence, it’s just a copy of Chatroulette – there’s nothing special about it, well, other than the name, which is kind of funny (pun totally intended, ha). I actually also noticed something kind of odd about this site which I hadn’t before, which is that it has a lot of visitors from South Korea. This seemed totally random at first, but then I noticed the Facebook page is described in Korean, and I was like, duhhhhh, how did I never notice this before?

So, the site has a South Korean user base – this actually kind of puts them on a new level in my book, because previously in my book there wasn’t a site with that focus, so that makes them kind of cool after all. I have some cool Korean friends, so obviously if they’re cool, then Lollichat by inferential reasoning must also be uber kewl, it’s just the way of things. In any event, the site has all the necessary features – you can next people, you can webcam video chat, and there aren’t any bugs I noticed, so yea, it’s all there. Basically, if you’re looking for some Korean companionship, this is probably the spot for you, so check it out at www.lollichat.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

Airtime Review

 Airtime is a chat site, or I guess more accurately, a Chatroulette-style random video chat Facebook app, that started out with a whole lot of fanfare and then basically fizzled immediately. Everyone thought it would do ridiculously well because it had famous people working on it such as Sean Parker from Facebook and Shawn Fanning from Napster, and it also had famous investors like Justin Timberlake and so on, but no, it failed, and miserably at that. So yea, I’m not sure if I’d even recommend checking it out anymore, because it has so few people on it these days, but I’ll get into a little more detail anyway.

Basically, since it’s a Facebook app, you can forget about your anonymity, and I feel like that first and foremost is what led to Airtime’s demise. When people go on a random chat site they don’t want to have to worry about being identified, they don’t want to feel like they’re being spied on, they don’t want people to watch their every move – they want to feel free and able to act out or do whatever! The loss of that feeling seems to really hurt Airtime, more so than I think anyone really expected to be honest. However, I should say that the one major plus side to their system is that you don’t have to worry much about seeing people get naked and other junk like that, so for that reason I guess it still might be worth checking out, at least assuming there is anyone online to chat with. You can visit Airtime at www.airtime.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

Chatpig Review

 So, this site is obviously made kewl since the name involves a pig, I mean seriously, a pig…it’s just so…badass. Anyway, don’t ask me why it includes “pig” in the name, but ChatPig is a roulette video chat site with a focus on Germany. As in, it’s filled with Germans speaking Deutsche like a bunch of ballers. Ask for sauerkraut with a clearly American tone and you WILL get next-ed, no joke, so yea, remember that. The only way you can ask for it and be okay is if you also ask for a bratwurst, so also remember that – VERY important. Okay, anyway, on to more important things.

Um, the site itself is basically an imitation of Chatroulette. It looks like they used to have their own extra custom feature of some sort which is now disabled, but it had something to do with pigs I think judging by the name of it, which would be awesome except that again, it is disabled 🙁 but oh well. There seem to be plenty of people online to chat with, so that’s always a good sign. And the underlying software seems to be pretty well done, not too buggy, and decently fast, so those are also good signs. In general, I would say it’s definitely worth a try if for no other reason than you can say “wienerschnitzel” and have an actual German lecture you about its true meaning, which I won’t divulge because obviously it needs to be surprise! Anyway, you can visit them at www.chatpig.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

Bazoocam Review

 This site is basically a copy of Chatroulette, but with one major difference, which is that it has a focus on French users, AND it has been successful in acquiring a major visitor base in France. Thus, if you’re looking to practice a little Français, this is the place to be! But, obviously things aren’t quite that simple, and that is a very brief idea of what Bazoocam is all about, so let’s dive in a little deeper into the mud and dig some extra dirt up!

First of all, you have to be wondering whether or not this webcam video chat site is popular enough to keep your attention, you know what I’m saying? As in, are there even enough people online to bother giving it a try? The short answer is YES, there are plenty, so you’re good to go in that department. In fact, this is one of the more popular roulette chat sites, at least as far as I can tell, so yea, you’re good. The next thing you probably want to know is whether or not the site and software are both fast and not a headache to use. Well, good news there as well – the site loads super quick, and the software is pretty seamless to use. In other words, the other issues that often pop up with a site like this besides popularity seem to be solved, and the site seems to be in good shape overall for chatting people up! Woohoo! Okay, I think I’ve covered my bases on this one, you can check out Bazoocam at www.bazoocam.org.

Stickam Review

 Stickam is an awesome and old titan of the video chatting industry. As far as I’m aware, it was the first site to really form a sort of community around video chatting, or at least with more of a social aspect to it. Thus, being  a pioneer and all, it went viral and became very popular, and it still remains popular to this very day. If you’re looking to register and join a site dedicated to webcam chatting where you can have your very own live streaming channel and other goodies this is the site for you! Obviously that’s a very brief take on it so let me get into a bit more detail.

First, before I forget, I should definitely mention that Stickam DOES have a Chatroulette type of chatting option, and it’s called Stickam Shuffle.However, you have to be registered and logged in to use it, so there is a bit of an anonymity problem for those of you who value that. On the flip side, the registration requirement makes for a much cleaner environment in terms of WAY less disgusting sights, if you know what I mean. So, as with anything, with the positives comes the negatives. In any case, that is actually just one very small piece of the entire site. The main focus of the site is the community and each user has their very own channel. Some users schedule weekly shows, and some just come on whenever. There are rankings showing who has had the most viewed channel for the week, month, etc. And some of the shows are scripted ahead of time, so there are some great comedy routines. If all this sounds good to you make sure to check them out at www.stickam.com! Update: Site no longer exists.