In an effort to revive the chat room, there is now a little box in your hub that tells you who is chatting. It's on the right, under the calendar.  It's a live list of users in the room at that moment. Keep an eye on it, and when you see one of your friends, go in and say hi.

If you are wondering what chat room I'm talking about, it's at http://chatroom.covenspace.com

You need to be a "friend" to the chatroom in order to see the login box.