Encourage the chat in your room. Note how it actually can support the academic areas that are being addressed while providing student voice and choice. There are private and virtual rooms that also can be learned about.
Create A Free Virtual Room:
http://www.chatzy.com/advanced.htm
You can send out invitations later or, if you are running a Web site, link to it and use it as a free hosted chat solution.
Learning Lovers.org 