Break the Ice By Talking About Area Codes

by Liz Colville

Chatroulette may be fading from view, but it’s being replaced by similar getting-to-know-you sites like Textslide and two other exceeeeeeedingly badly named sites called Chatfé and Facelette, reports Jenna Wortham in the Times. Chatfé.

Anyway the premise of Textslide, whose beta logo appears to include pin-straight sperm, is that you can text anyone but the only thing you get to know about them is their screen name and their area code, because the founder believes area codes “can serve as an icebreaker.” So, you know, “Yo how did you get 917 that is so unfair I had to settle for 646 & it sux,” or, “310 cool so have u met ne celebrities like lauren conrad or something,” or, “902 where the F is that canada oh i gg nice talking 2 u,” or, “801 ewww so u probably have like 10 wives,” or, “406? oh nice so like how many sheep u have?”

Why is a video site being usurped by a texting site? Is it 1998? Is someone working on a site that allows us to touch each other through our computer screens?