Paltalk: Is It Cool to Chat?

Anyone who's been around the PC scene for a while will tell you that chat—heading off to a room to talk to a bunch of perfect strangers—had its heyday. But I spent some time yesterday on Paltalk, a chat application with video and audio capabilities, and I'm here to report that chat is alive, well, and ready to meet the Web 2.0 world.

A couple of things make Paltalk a standout. From a technology standpoint, it uses a peer-to-server-to-peer architecture. This means that your video or audio heads to the Paltalk servers and then gets multicast to users. Translation? You can have thousands of people in a chat room. As a matter of fact, Paltalk likes to brag that shock jocks Opie and Anthony power their radio show with Paltalk every day. (So addicting, Paltalk says, that O&A call it Palcrack.)

Because there're video and audio, Paltalk chat seems a bit more well lit and safer than traditional chat rooms. Seeing and hearing people is a lot better than writing to them in different fonts and colors.

Yes, there are adult rooms on Paltalk and no shortage of all the things you'd imagine, but you can filter them out. The rooms are moderated by self-deputized leaders, and Paltalk staff can be summoned to referee situations in real time. After downloading a client you log on to Paltalk and can join in on topics from stock trading to karaoke singing.

At 10 a.m. on a weekday I found more than 42,000 users logged in. (A quick glance leads me to believe that many were from points outside the United States.) They seemed to be mostly in their 20s through 50s and passed the microphone from person to person, sharing cooking ideas, PC tips, and, oddly enough, just playing music for each other.

Paltalk is free of charge for those who want to chat, but to view the full videos there's a subscription fee. Pop-up ads are minimal, but they're present. There's been some talk on discussion groups about Paltalk installing spyware when you download their client, but the company and many of its most loyal users say that's not so.

On December 6 Paltalk is launching its latest version. You'll be able to play games and listen to Rhapsody music while you chat, and the company will introduce what it's calling super IM—a cross between multimedia chat and IM. To kick it off, there will be celebrity chats with the likes of Arianna Huffington, Samantha Daniels (professional matchmaker), and LeToya Luckett, former member of Destiny's Child.