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.

 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.

 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 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.

  This is a pretty cool random video chat site, with a broad range of features and offerings. The name “funyo” is pretty cool in itself – easy to remember and well, gives you kind of a good feeling. In terms of popularity, this site is pretty well populated with users. If you take a look at its Alexa rank, it only reinforces this point, with a strong 50k or so ranking (which if you aren’t familiar with the system is quite good). Anyway, this is of course one of the most important things with any roulette chat site, since if there aren’t enough people these kinds of sites just really aren’t that much fun!

Anyway, let’s talk about all the features! First of all, it has the usual Chatroulette-style random chatting option, so no surprises there really. Initially I’m pretty sure I remember Funyo only having that one option and nothing else, but over of time they added a whole bunch more cool new choices for the dedicated chatter to utilize! One of these extras is their group chat rooms option which has video chat capabilities and runs on a super fast flash-based software program that has lots of extra goodies in it. Another extra is their own stranger social network, similar to iMeetzu, which is quite cool and definitely worth checking out! There also are some other things but I don’t want to give it all away so make sure you check them out at www.funyo.com! Update: Site no longer exists.

 Camzap is a roulette video chat site that started essentially as an exact replica of the original Chatroulette. It came into being shortly after Chatroulette’s rise to fame, and by timing it right, was able to piggyback on that fame in order to achieve its very own popularity, which it still seems to successfully maintain to this day. Whether you want to call it smart marketing tactics or pure luck, they are what they are, a popular random live webcam chat site. However, they do seem to be trying to make things a bit more interesting nowadays.

You see, there’s a good chance most of their visitors don’t notice this, because it is VERY poorly advertised, but Camzap actually has a new beta version that adds an interesting twist to the typical roulette option. First, they give you an option to register, and I know this may be a turn off to many of you due to the need for anonymity that is so often very dear to users, but bare with me for a moment. If you are in the midst of a random nexting session, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to click a nice big “add to friends” button and save a favorite new contact just like that? No more losing that connection and never being able to find them again, even though they could have been your soul mate! See, there are benefits! Yes, I admit, that example situation was likely a bit extreme, but you get the idea. Anyway, at least check it out – you can visit them at www.camzap.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

As far as I’m aware Chatville‘s rise in terms of popularity is a somewhat recent phenomenon. A little further research seems to lead me to believe that it may have used to have been some sort of Facebook app before shifting to what it has become today, although I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, now it has become an adult-oriented webcam chat site, and it provides some pretty solid software to back this up. As soon as you load the page you will see a listing of all the available chat rooms, and at least three will have 100-200 users in them, so there are definitely plenty of people available at any given time. However, there is not a Chatroulette-style option as far as I can tell, so if you’re looking for that you will have to go elsewhere.

Once you’ve joined a room you will see a few interesting features. One of the main great features is the ability to watch not one, not two, not three, but four separate live cam feeds at the same time! You can see which feeds are the most popular too if you need help choosing – it shows you exactly how many people are watching each feed. Although, you can start your own live video channel and try to drive up your own viewership! Overall, the software seems to run smoothly so they must have a pretty decent server behind the scenes. Anyway, if you like what you’re hearing, you can check them out at www.chatville.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

iMeetzu is probably the most versatile of all the chat sites in the “roulette chat” niche. It initially started as an Omegle imitator back before Chatroulette existed, so like Omegle it was text-only for a while. With the emergence of Chatroulette it added video to it’s repertoire, and then followed up that by adding an entire social network, the first “meet a stranger” style social network of its kind. At first, the social network allowed you to publish and rate text conversations from the random chat, but over time this functionality was removed due to privacy concerns, among other things. However, the social network continued to exist, as it does to this day, and has attracted a very intriguing unique group of people.

After adding the social network, iMeetzu wasn’t done. Obviously, being a social network they have had to continuously improve and refine it in order to maintain and attract more users, but they’ve also added yet another service. The next service they added is a group video chat feature, where users can enter a group chat room, and open live cam feeds as well as watch multiple feeds of other users who also have them open. This room also has lots of other great features such as animated emoticons, the ability to send gifts, and much more! To check all of this sweet stuff out visit iMeetzu at www.imeetzu.com!

 Streamberry is a video streaming chat site that seems to have risen to prominence very recently. I’m not sure how, but it was flying under the radar, well, at least my radar, but that’s saying a lot because I’ve got a pretty solid handle on what’s going on in this niche! Anyway, they also seem to have recently updated their layout and it definitely looks a lot nicer. But as for the chat service itself, it’s also pretty nice. They offer two main options when you get to the homepage, both of which work flawlessly.

The first option is your typical roulette cam chat service. It imitates good old Chatroulette for the most part. The second option is where things get interesting. They call it the “live cams” option, which doesn’t tell you much, so let me give you a more in depth description. This second option allows you to join different rooms of your choosing. Once within a room, you can decide if you would like to start your own live video feed. Whether or not you decide to do this, the other thing you can do is check out the live feeds of others, which you will see in a column on the right hand side. Next to each feed you may be interested in watching you will see the number of views, and the gender of the user. Essentially, this second option allows you to have your own show and/or view as many as 4 other user shows at the same time. Pretty cool stuff! To check out Streamberry, go to www.streamberry.com. Update: Site no longer exists.

 Chatrandom is a very popular video chat site. It began as a simple Chatroulette imitator, but as it grew it added more and more features to the point now where it offers a whole lot more than Chatroulette ever has. Features include the typical roulette-style cam chat, another style of chatting that involves group video chat rooms, and yet another type of chat service that allows you to show cam feeds and/or watch cam feeds with lots of other viewers. Thus, with all these extra features it is no surprise that Chatrandom has risen to such a high level of popularity.

However, one thing you should know, assuming you’re looking for a more mainstream experience, is it doesn’t do much if anything at all to rain in the use of the service in an adult manner – but this isn’t really surprising considering it’s advertised as an adults only site! Now, you can still find plenty of people using the service in a totally normal non-adult way, but just be warned that there don’t seem to be any restrictions, so you may run into users that you wish you didn’t on the random chat (just like pretty much every roulette chat), if you know what I mean. Anyway, if you would like to visit Chatrandom, you can check them out at www.chatrandom.com.