Chatting is fun again

As a society we are hopelessly addicted to social networking sites. There are over 4.7 million registered users between Facebook.com, Myspace.com, and Twitter.com alone. But what do you do if you want to social network but don’t have any friends to network with, or just don’t like your friends?

Meet Leif K-Brooks, an 18-year-old high school student from Brattleboro, Vt. K-Brooks has created a web site called Omegle. Its main and only purpose is to connect you with other users anonymously and one on one for a quick, or long chat with a total stranger. There are an estimated 3,000 users and quickly growing.

Omegle is one of the simplest social web sites to use. You simply go to the Omegle homepage, and click the “start a chat” button and you’re instantly matched up with another user. Users on Omegle do not have to sign up or even give out an e-mail address to use the site, just chat that’s all.

The format of Omegle is simple. Once you’ve entered the chat room with your random paired match, you room name becomes “you,” and the anonymous person is labeled “stranger.”

It’s fun, random, and slightly awkward as some conversations start out wrong or obscene but it's just for fun. “I use Omegle a couple times during the week, the conversations that you get into with strangers are hilarious, and I just do it for fun,” said Omegle user Mark Meadows who claims to have used most popular networking sites at one time or another.

Omegle is completely anonymous so there is no filter on the site for age, language, and content. So users need to be prepared for anything to be said by users just on to get a laugh by being offensive. “Trolls are currently the biggest problem facing Omegle. Unfortunately, a percentage of the site's user base, instead of trying to have interesting conversations, likes to harass other users through vulgarity, spamming, and so on,” said K-Brooks in the his Official Omegle Blog.

So if you’re bored with the usual sites that connect you to people try Omegle, or just try it to try it.

• Who: Leif K-Brooks
• Where: Brattleboro, Vt.
• What: Omegle.com chat with strangers
• How: One on one chat with an anonymous stranger selected at random
• Quote: “I use Omegle a couple times during the week, the conversations that you get into with strangers are hilarious, and I just do it for fun.”