What we can learn from Chatroulette

Kate Moss is addicted to it. Devo says it is more Devo than Devo. I came across an estimate last week that over 1.5 million people use chatroulette.com every day.

The question is: What can we learn from it? Here are a couple of things that were reinforced for me by the success of the site.

1. The site and its rapid growth demonstrates the power of social networks and blogs to turn a modest site into a global phenomenon.

2. As average bandwidth increases, the ability of more users to have a good experience with interactive full-motion video also increases. As the tipping point is reached, more and more sites based on full-motion video will proliferate the web.

3. The power of a well executed, simple idea. Chatroulette is based on a simple idea and fulfills a singular human need. It's neither over engineered nor bogged down in gratuitous fluff. It's a nice example of user-centered design.

4. The power of a platforms. Many of the most successful sites: Ebay, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist are just a few sites that are successful because they offer users a platform to create and distribute their own content. We can now add Chatroulette to this list.

Lastly, there is surly a lot that Chatroulette can also teach us about the human condition and human nature, but I will leave that to the philosophers among us.