Chatroulette is currently not available. The Chatroulette that we’ve all known has apparently just been an "experiment". It will be back today, however, if a message on the site is any indication.

If you go to the site, it says, "The experiment #1 is over now. Thanks for participating. Renewed and updated version of the website will be launched today."

That’s the only info that was given, but I guess we’ll know more details soon enough. It will be very interesting to see what direction the site goes in. New features? Personalized channels perhaps?

We now know that Chatroulette can be used for marketing. The team behind the marketing of the film The Last Exorcism have proven this:

Meanwhile, Chatroulette faces a growing amount of competition. Similar apps are popping up. People could also gravitate to services that cater to their existing relationships as opposed to random people (though Chatroulette has made efforts to reduce objectionable content).

Rounds, for example offers an engaging new video chat experience via Facebook (and its half a billion users).

Chatroulette has Napster’s founders working with it. Sean Parker recently announced that he’s working with the site, and it was reported earlier in the summer that Shawn Fanning was advising.