inportb

Almost every conversation on Omegle contains the ubiquitous “ASL” (age/sex/location) query. You might be asked if you were American (“STAR”) or if you live near the city of St Albans (“STA?”). More recently, a band of Twitter users have set out to find each other on the Web service for strangers. An instant messaging service that pairs random strangers anonymously, Omegle attracts a variety of users.

The majority of users behave as expected. Anonymity leads to abusive language and general silliness online. Advertisers have taken advantage of the unfiltered and unmoderated service using robotic and human zombies alike. Still others engage in cybersex. In a world where identity does not matter, sophomoric behavior is the norm and civility has no bearing.

Omegle is not only for bots, spammers, trolls, and sexters. In Asia, the service is often used to practice English and to experience Western culture; unfortunately, it is not so much Western culture but online culture that users experience. Others use the service to exchange personal information, and these are the most interesting of all.

Omegle functions on a foundation of anonymity; yet, strangers are often found exchanging contact information with each other. Why do strangers seek data about others whose identities they could not verify? Why is the ASL preamble so popular? A research group, composed in part of Omegle users, was founded to investigate this very question.

Omegle Group Chat

Group Chat is an extension of Omegle that allows users to chat with many strangers simultaneously. At its core is a panel of like-minded individuals interested in observing strangers in a group setting. The extension randomly picks up strangers from Omegle’s user pool, many of whom have joined the project. Over time, it has evolved into a community in itself.

Omegle Logger

Another branch of the project deals with strangers in their native environment. Chat logs are recorded from Omegle without interference or modification, to investigate the following questions:

• what are strangers interested in talking about? (i.e. what makes the longest conversations?)
• what are the current trends in trolling?
• how do normal strangers deal with trolls?
• how do trolls deal with trolls?
• what are the evolutionary patterns of memes?
• do any strangers wonder if they were being observed?

Anonymity is preserved to the extent that participants choose, according to the Omegle standard. Needless to say, such pristine recordings have been an invaluable resource in behavioral research.

Conclusion

While this is an ongoing study, the current data point to a general desire for recognition and society. The Internet is a wonderful tool for social interaction, but it may be a daunting prospect to navigate alone. It is natural, then, that many would shed the cover of anonymity for solidarity. Omegle is not the public washroom that founder Leif K-Brooks likened his service to be after all.