Viral Valentines

How did the hubby and I spend the fourteenth of February? Online, of course. Before a trek to Brickworks--where we wandered and watched the snow fall--we huddled up on my bed and typing to anyone who would talk back.

Enter Chat Roulette, the brainchild of some 17-year-old Russian, and our latest obsession. Proof that teens know best when it comes to of-the-moment web trends, Chat Roulette is coded to be everything a pint-sized lifecaster would want.

The site is nothing fancy, just three boxes for you, a stranger, and some text. Press "play" and your instantly connected to a random user. If unsatisfied, click next to be transferred to another random connection. If you don't want to be their friend, move on--just like real life, I later tell a friend.

We chat with Brazilian boys and drunk college girls in Boston; promise a girl from Jersey we don't believe in MTV's Shore. That night we met up with friends and showed them our newest social network. Soon the whole room piled behind a single screen, shouting obscenities at voyeuristic chronic masturbaters and loudly criticizing the opposing feed, not knowing they too could hear our conversation.

We'll be bored of this in a week when we realize we have so little to say to strangers. Until then, don't expect to see us. We're busy spinning the wheel of the web.

photo via @NYChoi