RandomDorm is the newest Chatroulette copycat to launch, it is one of about 50. The industry has been witness to a barrage of copycat sites that have launched with the hopes of suckling off of Chatroulette’s popularity. As the hype dies down we will see quality rise to the top. So far Shufflepeople, Tiny Chat’s Next, Stickam’s Shuffle and Omegle are in a race to secure the title of most ingenues anonymous video chat site, next to Chatroulette, of course. There’s always room for competition in the market economy and those that adapt to user behavior and can intuit user demand are the most likely to thrive.
As reported by the New York Times, RandomDorm is the first of the copycat sites to provide a unique spin on the Chatroulette video chat model by requiring a .edu email address to register with their site, which accomplishes two things. One it ensures their site is populated primarily with a young demographic that has a lot in common with each other. This is likely to increase time on site as people will be more likely to chat longer with people who they have things in common with.
Currently the average time users spend on Chatroulette is approximately five minutes. I would guess that by restricting usage of RandomDorm to the college demographic only that time spent on site will increase. By what amount is not clear but will provide some very useful information from a sociological perspective.
However, if you analyze Chatroulette’s demographic breakdown you’ll notice that the majority of their user base is between the ages of 18 and 24. Roughly 70% of their users are under 30 years old. Therefore the age of the users are not what perpetuates perversion. That is more likely to be explained by the anonymous aspect of the site. Theoretically it could also be explained also by the income bracket. Since college kids are likely born into a higher income bracket they may be less apt to perverse behavior. Although, this hasn’t been investigated and could be inaccurate, just something to consider.
chatroulette demographic
The second unique take on anonymous video chat that RandomDorm provides is the fact that it offers a less anonymous chat experience because they allow users to connect via Facebook. This gives students the ability to find people who they can later connect with in real life and will, for obvious reasons, greatly reduce the amount of occurrences in which people flash body parts that are normally not displayed to the general public.
The name the creators of RandomDorm, also the makers of GoodCrush, chose for their Chatroulete spinoff, is a little questionable. Unless they want to cater to kids in college dorm rooms forever, this name isn’t going to facilitate growth beyond the college scene. They may not want to follow in the footsteps of Facebook, who also started as a social network that catered to college students only before they removed the .edu requirement and opened registration to the general public. RandomDorm may want remain as a site that caters exclusively to the college community.
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