200 things to talk about: topics for friends, strangers, text and video

“I never know what to talk about” is the most common reason a conversation dies, and it is almost never a shortage of topics. It is a shortage of ready ones. This is a list of 200 things to talk about, arranged so you can find one in seconds: easy topics for anyone, topics for friends, for someone you have just met, over text, on a video call, and deeper ones for when a conversation is going well.

Each topic comes with a question, because “let’s talk about travel” goes nowhere and “what is a place you would go back to tomorrow?” does not.

How to pick a topic

• Start with what is in front of you. Something they said, the conversation starter on screen, the time of day.
• Go from easy to personal, never the other way. Food before feelings.
• Follow their energy. A long answer is an invitation to stay on the topic. A short one is a nudge to change it.
• Have one topic in reserve. Just one. Knowing you have it takes the panic out of a pause.

Easy things to talk about with anyone

1. Food: what is the best thing you have eaten this week?
2. Music: what have you had on repeat lately?
3. Series: what are you watching, and is it worth it?
4. Films: what film could you rewatch any time?
5. Weekend plans: anything good coming up?
6. Weather, but done well: what is your favourite kind of day?
7. Pets: do you have one, or want one?
8. Coffee and tea: how do you take it?
9. Books: what was the last one you finished?
10. Sleep: are you a morning person or a night person?
11. Breakfast: what is your ideal one?
12. Games: what have you played most?
13. Hobbies: what do you do when you have a free evening?
14. Sport: do you play or watch anything?
15. Podcasts: any you would recommend?
16. Snacks: sweet or salty?
17. Seasons: which one suits you best?
18. Skills: what would you learn if you had a free month?
19. Cooking: what is the dish you make best?
20. Comfort: what is your go-to comfort film or food?
21. Apps: which app could you not live without?
22. Shopping: what is the best small thing you have bought this year?
23. Nature: beach, forest, mountain or city?
24. Childhood favourites: what cartoon, toy or game did you love?
25. Cars, bikes and trains: how do you like to get around?
26. Weekends: what did you do last weekend?
27. Drinks: what is your go-to order, alcoholic or not?
28. Phones: what was your first one?
29. Holidays: what is your ideal one, beach, city or nothing planned?
30. Routines: what is the first thing you do in the morning?

Things to talk about with a stranger

Topics that need no shared history and ask for no personal details, which is what a first chat with someone new needs.

1. The conversation starter on screen: what is your honest answer?
2. The interest you both chose: what got you into it?
3. Languages: which do you speak, and which would you like to?
4. Where you would travel next if money were no object.
5. A food from your region that everyone should try.
6. The best thing you have watched this year.
7. A hobby you picked up recently.
8. What you are looking forward to.
9. The last thing that made you laugh.
10. A song you think is underrated.
11. A small daily habit you swear by.
12. The best advice you have been given.
13. A skill you taught yourself.
14. A place you could go back to again and again.
15. Whether you are a planner or spontaneous.
16. A game you would recommend to anyone.
17. A random fact you learned recently.
18. What you do to switch off.
19. A dish you cannot cook no matter how hard you try.
20. Your unpopular opinion about something harmless, like films or food.
21. Something people are often surprised to learn about you.
22. A question from icebreaker questions.
23. A quick round of this or that questions.
24. A would you rather question.
25. What made you try random chat today.

What to keep out of a first chat with a stranger: your full name, where you live or study, your workplace, phone number, social accounts and photos. Everything above works without any of it. See staying safe when you talk to strangers online.

Things to talk about with friends

1. Something one of you has changed your mind about.
2. Plans you keep saying you will make, and when you will actually make them.
3. A memory you both have but remember differently.
4. What each of you was like five years ago.
5. Something you are proud of and have not mentioned.
6. A trip you should take together.
7. The best and worst purchases of the year.
8. What you would do with a free week.
9. A film, book or album you disagree about.
10. Your friend’s hidden talent, according to you.
11. What you have been worrying about.
12. A skill you could teach each other.
13. A shared project: a run, a course, a recipe, a game.
14. What “a good year” would look like for each of you.
15. The friend of a friend you both find fascinating.
16. How you have each changed since you met.
17. Something you have never asked each other.
18. A habit you want to build or break.
19. The last time you laughed until it hurt.
20. What you would tell your younger selves.
21. Your current comfort foods and why.
22. What you are looking forward to this month.
23. A pet peeve you share.
24. Something you have both been meaning to try.
25. A question to ask your friends from the deep section.

Things to talk about over text

Text suits topics that can wait for a reply and that are easy to answer in a sentence or a photo. Long, heavy topics usually stall over text.

1. A picture of what you are doing right now, with one line.
2. A song link and one reason.
3. A quick “this or that”: tea or coffee, sea or mountains, early or late.
4. The best thing that happened today, in one line.
5. A recommendation: a series, a snack, a place.
6. A small mystery: a strange thing you saw today.
7. A question from random questions to ask.
8. A running joke you can keep going.
9. A plan: a specific day and a specific thing.
10. A hypothetical: what would you do if…
11. A quick poll between two options you are stuck on.
12. A “guess what” with a real answer.
13. A memory that just came back to you.
14. A mini review of something you just finished.
15. A word or phrase you learned today.
16. The next thing you are cooking.
17. A screenshot-free description of a good moment.
18. A tiny challenge: a photo of the sky, a walk, a page of a book.
19. A question you were asked today and did not know how to answer.
20. A weekend plan, even a boring one.
21. The most useful thing you own that cost under ten pounds or dollars.
22. A thing you are counting down to.
23. Your current obsession.
24. A quick game: 21 questions or two truths and a lie.
25. A “thank you for…” message, because nobody sends enough of them.
26. A voice note instead of a paragraph, when a paragraph feels heavy.
27. A photo of your view, with no explanation.
28. The one thing you would change about today.
29. A recommendation request: what should I watch tonight?
30. A “remember when” from earlier in the same chat.

For how to keep a text conversation alive rather than just what to send, see how to keep a conversation going.

Things to talk about on a video call

Video rewards topics with something to show and things you can react to in real time.

1. Show and tell: the most interesting object within arm’s reach.
2. Your view, if you can safely show it, or your favourite object in the room.
3. What you are cooking or eating.
4. A song each of you plays for the other.
5. A quick sketch or doodle challenge.
6. A game: never have I ever or truth or dare, clean versions.
7. A book from your shelf and why you kept it.
8. Your pet, if you have one.
9. A skill you can demonstrate in thirty seconds.
10. An accent or phrase from your language.
11. A plant you are trying not to kill.
12. A tour of your favourite mug.
13. A “what is this?” with an odd object.
14. The last photo you took, described.
15. A memory game: three things about each other you remember from earlier in the chat.
16. A quick opinion round: three things, thumbs up or down.
17. Your most-used app, and a defence of it.
18. Something you made: a meal, a drawing, a repair.
19. A local snack, and a review.
20. What the weather is doing where you are, and whether you like it.
21. A quick quiz: name three countries starting with the same letter.
22. The oldest thing you own.
23. A recipe you can explain in one minute.
24. Your handwriting: write one word and show it.
25. A gadget you love and what it does.
26. A card trick, a riddle or a tongue-twister.
27. Your favourite word in your language and what it means.
28. The best thing in your fridge right now.
29. A small thing you fixed recently.
30. A guess at each other’s favourite colour, then the answer.

Before you show anything on camera, check what else is in the shot: an envelope, a badge or a street sign can reveal more than you meant to. On RandomHey your country appears as a flag in video chat unless you hide it, and nothing else about you is shown.

Interesting topics to talk about

1. A skill everyone should learn.
2. A piece of technology that is underrated.
3. What will look ridiculous about today in fifty years.
4. The best invention of the last twenty years.
5. A job that will not exist in twenty years.
6. A habit that changed your life.
7. A place that is nothing like its reputation.
8. The best way to learn a language.
9. How much of your day should be spent on a screen.
10. A tradition from your culture that others might enjoy.
11. Whether cities or small towns make people happier.
12. The most useful thing you learned at school.
13. A subject you would study for fun.
14. Whether luck or effort matters more.
15. What makes a good teacher.
16. A small rule that would improve everyone’s life.
17. What you think people in other countries misunderstand about yours.
18. A book that everyone should read once.
19. The best age to be.
20. What you would change about how people use phones.
21. A debate topic you could argue either side of.
22. A philosophical question you have no answer to.
23. What a perfect ordinary day looks like.
24. A question you would ask someone from 200 years ago.
25. What you would tell an alien first.
26. Whether it is better to be an expert in one thing or good at many.
27. A historical period you would like to visit for a day.
28. The most overrated and underrated foods.
29. What makes a city good to live in.
30. A rule you followed as a child that makes no sense now.

Deeper things to talk about

For a conversation that is already going well, with a friend or a stranger who clearly wants to go there.

1. What a good life means to you.
2. Something you have changed your mind about completely.
3. What you are afraid of and rarely admit.
4. Who has shaped you most, and how.
5. What you would do if you could not fail.
6. A hard thing you are going through.
7. What makes you feel understood.
8. A belief you hold that most people around you do not.
9. What you want your life to look like in five years.
10. What you have forgiven, and what you have not.
11. The kind of person you want to be at eighty.
12. What you think happens after we die.
13. Something you are still learning to accept about yourself.
14. When you feel most like yourself.
15. What you need more of from the people around you.
16. Something you are proud of that nobody praised you for.
17. What loneliness feels like for you.
18. What you would do with one extra hour a day.
19. A decision you would make differently.
20. The best thing anyone has ever done for you.
21. A question from deep questions to ask.
22. What you wish you had said to someone.
23. What you would keep if you had to give up almost everything.
24. How you want to be remembered.
25. What you would do differently if nobody were watching.
26. What you have learned from your worst year.
27. What you would ask a version of yourself from ten years in the future.
28. What you think you are wrong about right now.
29. What makes a friendship last.
30. What you would want people to say about you at a party you are not at.

Things not to talk about with a stranger

• Your exact location, workplace or school. Talk about the kind of place, not the address.
• Money. Your salary, your savings, and any request to send or receive money is a red flag.
• Anything that would be a password reset question. Pet names, mother’s maiden name, first car, first school.
• Photos, phone numbers and social accounts. A good chat does not need them; anyone who insists is not having a good chat.
• Sexual content. Random chat is for conversation. It is against the rules here and gets people reported.

If you still need something to talk about

Say so. “I have gone blank, ask me something” is a perfectly good line, and most people are relieved to hear it. On RandomHey you both see the same conversation starter at the beginning of a chat, and either of you can ask for another topic if the first one falls flat. Start a text chat if you want time to think, or a video chat if you would rather see the reaction. Adults only, no account.