Just a thought. It'd be cool for the "Chat" link in the navigation bar for the site to show how many people were in the chat room, for instance, "Chat(0)" or "Chat(5)".. That way, if someone felt like using the chat room, others might be more apt to join in and share some words.
Given how the chat works, I'm not sure this is a technical feasibility, but thought I'd bring up the idea.