Watch CBS News

Tech Report: Napster's Founders Return With Airtime Video Chat Social Network

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)—The co-founders of Napster are back with a new project that teams social networking with video chatting called Airtime.

You may remember Chatroulette (it actually still exists) the video chat service where you log on and get random strangers. To be honest there'd be a lot of negative experiences with a lot of the exhibitionists and people you have nothing in common with.

With Airtime, you sign in with your Facebook account and it immediately matches you up with friends in common and interests in common.

When I logged on, I immediately ran into two people who I didn't know, but had something in common with them. They were fellow techies and we had pleasant conversations. I looked around some more and I found that some of my other Facebook friends were on and had some nice video chats.

KCBS' Tech Report:

Facebook is designed to mainly link you to people you already know, but with Airtime it really encourages you to reach out to people you don't already know. Plus it's face-to-face as opposed to Facebook's posts.

For my first day, I had good experiences in contrast to my time on Chatroulette. I do caution parents to be careful about letting their kids using this. There's still the potential for some negative interactions to happen, but I should mention they do claim to have algorithms in place that prevent users from showing body parts some would rather not see.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.