(CNN) -- On Chatroulette, a new and controversial Web site, every click lands you in a face-to-face video conversation with a random stranger.
The setup is simple: Activate your webcam and click "play." Then, as people from all over the world pop up one at a time in a box on your screen, you decide whether or not to chat with them. If you don't like the looks of things, click "next" and the site shuffles you to someone new.
The people you meet could be friendly. During a recent CNN test of the site, a man from France popped up on the screen wearing a jester's hat and telling jokes in French. Two men dressed as skeletons were having a dance party to techno music and flashing lights. A slouched-over man in Tunisia said he was tired because he'd been on the site for four hours.
But the stranger Chatroulette sends you could just as easily be naked -- or even masturbating in front of the camera, which is the case rather frequently.
Two of the first four video chatters randomly selected for CNN by Chatroulette were naked when their pictures appeared. The fifth person simply held a sign up to the screen that read: "Please show me your boobs."
For better or worse, Chatroulette is going viral on the Web in a big way.
Use of the site has grown quickly since it launched in November, and mainstream blogs and media organizations are catching on to the phenomenon. About 35,000 people are on Chatroulette at any given time, according to a traffic count published on the Web site's homepage.
The site has been called many things: the new Wild West of the Internet; a speed-dating replacement; a cesspool of porn; a voyeuristic follow-up to Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rear Window"; a way to get people from different social groups to interact.
Jason Kottke, a prominent blogger, wrote that Chatroulette "is pretty much the best site going on the Internet right now."
But even the haters seem to agree that the site generates a certain potentially addictive intrigue -- whether it comes from the rush of meeting a new person, or the fear of seeing a stranger who's not wearing any clothes.
The anti-Facebook
The site's hallmark feature is the randomness by which it selects companions for Internet chats. Several online video services such as Skype and Google Chat let people conference through live video feeds on the Web. And online dating services like WooMe use similar features.
But, in all of those instances, people choose who they will talk to -- or at least what kind of person they'd like to chat with.
--Adam Ostrow, editor of Mashable
On Chatroulette, every interaction is an adventurous gamble. There's no heed to class, race, geography, age, politics or religion. No way to tell who will appear on the other side of the camera.
This stands in contrast to sites like Facebook, Twitter and online dating sites, all of which are organized around existing social networks, creeds, interests or location, said Adam Ostrow, editor-in-chief at the blog Mashable.
"It completely goes outside of your comfort zone," he said. "Especially with Twitter and Facebook, you're used to associating with people who are like you, whereas on Chatroulette ... you come across just random people.
"It certainly reminds you that not everyone's like you -- that's for sure. You can look at some freakish things."
Michael J. Rosenfeld, an associate professor of sociology at Stanford University, said new friendships could come out of these random interactions.
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