I’m already hooked on Twitter and Facebook so when I heard about a new online gimmick called ‘chat roulette’ I decided to give it a whirl.

‘Chat roulette’ launched in November and is already attracting 22,000 users at any one time. Even the Jonas Brothers were rumoured to be on it this week. The premise is very simple: you enable your webcam, click ‘play’ and then find yourself face-to-face with a random stranger from anywhere else in the world.

You can either chat away or, if you don’t like what you see, quickly click ‘next’ to move to the next person - very handy actually considering what a magnet for oddballs and sexual deviants ‘chat roulette’ can be.

Connecting for the very first time I am confused to see my first ‘stranger’ sporting a blank screen.

“Hi,” they type from the abyss. “You’re pretty.”

“Why can’t I see you?” I quickly type back.

“My mom won’t buy me a webcam,” comes the reply.

Allegedly I am talking to a teenager in Denmark but the fact they can see me while I am blind unnerves me. I quickly make my excuses and click ‘next’.

That’s better – I am greeted by a grinning man. But then he moves his webcam down. He is only wearing boxers and shoves his crotch up against the screen. Eww. NEXT!

I rush through a few more blank screens until I meet a teenager wearing a hoodie.

“Yo,” says the boy. “Wats Upp?”

I am now talking to 18-year-old Rob from Connecticut. Rob tells me that ‘Connecticut sucks’ and that he used to live in Harlem in New York. His family moved him away aged 15 as his pals kept getting shot. He is now studying Eastern religion at the University of Connecticut. We politely sign off and I press ‘Next’ to be greeted by the sight of a smiling young man.

He types ‘Hi’ but then as I key in words his image freezes. My imagination runs riot as I dread to think what is going on behind his frozen image. NEXT!!

I decide I need to adapt a safety technique to this webcam business so I angle it away from my face so the next stranger can’t see me until I want them to. I press ‘Next’ quickly surfing through more blank screens and a fair few unsavory sights.

Then I meet Michael, a bartender from Chicago who promises to stay fully clothed.

He seems like a nice guy and reveals he likes to start dance parties online. To demonstrate he cranks up Miley Cyrus’ Party In The USA and proceeds to dance energetically in camera shot while I giggle.

“Chat roulette is really new,” he says when he sits down again. “I hope people move towards using it for good.”

He pauses.

“But I did have a nice conversation with a pair of tits earlier,” he admits. “They were from Barcelona and told me to come visit the city.”

All in all I like Michael – which is more than I can say for my next ‘stranger’.

This time the camera is angled on a naked man hanging upside down from a doorway. What on earth is he being suspended by? Err, Ugh, Ewwww. NEXT!

I am greeted by a young lady. At last a girl! The females on here appear to be few and far between and up until now they have been reluctant to talk to me. Clicking to discard me before I type a single word. Whatever happened to the sisterhood?

This girl, however, seems friendlier. Then I notice she is lying on her bed. In her underwear. Skimpy underwear.

“I like to play with everyone,” she types writhing around. Eek. NEXT!

The following stranger is in fact a pink plastic toy – and a very demanding one at that.

“I need to see you,” the toy commands. “Move your camera left.”

“You first,” I reply.

“Come on,” it types.

“Is this a stand off situation?” I ask.

“You have one more chance,” the toy replies. Stroppy. I scroll up and click ‘Next.’

PenghuiLi is 17 and from China and seems sweet until he starts begging me for my email address. When I refuse he asks if he can have one for my sister. NEXT!

Sebastian, 21, is an architecture student from Seville in Spain and tells me he is on ‘chat roulette’ as he is bored with studying.

“Tell me you speak Spanish!” he says.

“Um, hola!” I reply.

“I think you are the only woman on here,” he says. “Did you know Carlota is Charlotte in Spanish? It is my girl’s name.”

He seems like a jovial chap and reveals he has been chatting to people to practice his English.

After bidding Sebastian goodbye I speak to nice folk from Norway, Turkey and France then waste another hour clicking from camera to camera avoiding the men (and ladies) explicitly touting their wares. I pass a window shot of pretty scenery, scribbled messages asking for laughs, a guy studiously picking his nose, people in fancy dress and an eccentric Londoner who reflects my image back to me and draws squid on it.

I really shouldn’t like chat roulette but there is something very intriguing about it…