Don’t Look Now, But the Chatroom is Back
And you thought you left questions like “A/S/L?” back in the day with your Crazy Sexy Cool cassette, stirrup leggings and your crush on Mark-Paul Gosselaar. As if! A new app called Banter is about to breathe life back into the chatroom. R U ready for this?
Available to download now on Android and iOS, Banter is different from the social networks you’re spending your time on today. For starters, it allows you to join anonymously so you won’t be asked or encouraged to link any part of your existing social self up to your profile. Good for folks with privacy concerns, possibly bad if/when people start setting up fake profiles.
You can use the app to find rooms where people are chatting up different topics from pets to pop culture to food and drink. Go into Public Rooms you want to chat in or branch off and carry out one-on-one convos in Private Rooms. All of the public chats happening on the app are deleted after 24 hours, private ones stick around for six months. Does that mean you could still find love in a chatroom in 2014? Six months is, approximately two Bachelor seasons and some change, so, yes, absolutely.
If you’re cool with sharing your location, Banter uses it to help you navigate where and what is buzzing near you, a handy feature that is flexing its muscles right now at SXSW in Austin. Find out where the party is happening IRL and join it virtually on your smartphone. The location-based app also means you’ll be able to join chat rooms of people Banter-ing nearby. Did you hear that, ‘rents? Banter just might be your next Snapchat, so get ready to have “The [App] Talk” all over again.
You don’t get a lot of second chances in life, but now you have another shot at the best screen name ever. What will yours be this time around? Does Banter have you buggin’ or do you think it’s pretty fresh?