This is Trey Pennington (@treypennington to the initiated) with Ruairi Fullam and John Harvey, at a tweetup that we arranged in Exeter on May 26th.

Trey is a marketer and social media thinker from Greenville, South Carolina, USA. This is a beautiful example of the power of social media to connect people from around the globe. It is also an example of the mantra “think global, act local.”

Used as a poster child to describe the ‘internet village’ – the notion that the man in Australia is a potential customer in your online world – the phrase itself provides valuable insight when coupled with this transatlantic tweetup.

The same evening marked the inauguration of the Social Media Club Exeter, an international (free) franchise that started in 2006 with the vision of Kristie Wells and Chris Heuer. The idea was to get people together around the industry of social media. The natural (and digital) course of action would be to have monthly webcasts – allowing anyone with the technology to attend. However Kristie and Chris decided not to act global. Instead, they translated the global thought – everyone in the world can be part of the social media club – into local action by establishing chapters in cities and regions.

Whilst this seems contrary to the technological foundation of social media, the ownership that comes with local action is matchless. People are far more passionate about running a course in their city, than attending a course in their nation’s capital. With 55 local chapters established in 3 years, the strategy has paid off.

This photo – a SME director, Exeter City Centre Manager, and marketing expert who flew in from America – is a constant reminder that the proximity of people is a greater experience than contemporary communication.