Ninja I understand it. I think that everything in JomSocial should be interconnected.
Neither I, nor a single user of my site has ever used the inbox section of the site. We always communicate only through the chat bar, because it is convenient and fast. I do not see the point even in such a menu item as inbox (I think it is now needed only for the compatibility of the old system).
Here's an example: since the chat bar started on Facebook, I never went to a separate section to view messages again (although I can still do that). I always correspond on Facebook only through the chat bar for many years, and recently the chat bar appeared on Twitter and there I also now correspond only through the chat bar.