Social media getting (locally) social

So things starting stirring yesterday on Facebook. A former co-worker of mine was heading to a meeting over lunch. An inaugural meeting, in fact. Said meeting was for the Baton Rouge Social Media Club, a new crew in Louisiana's Capital City that is looking for "like-minded individuals who are already out in the social spaces establishing Baton Rouge as a technologically advanced and forward-thinking city."

I missed the meeting.

Well, to be fair to myself, I didn't really know about it until it was too late. But I immediately headed over to the BRSocMe website and filled out an application. It's about time an application asks you if you are on foursquare.

Since I'm six days out from being gloriously unemployed (by choice) and thus swimming in the giant sea of freelance, it would be an understatement to say this club could be important to me. In this day and age where tweetups (Mashable has a guide) are becoming more common and companies are becoming more progressive (well, some of them, anyway), local social media gatherings hold huge potential for networking, the formation of new companies, finding jobs, making friends, etc. So I plan to be out at the next meeting slinging my smartphone, possibly with baby in tow.

So what other cities are jumping into the social media club arena? There's Los Angeles, Louisville, Phoenix, Hawaii, Portland (Oregon), Cleveland, Seattle, Austin and plenty more. Many of these appear to be chapters in a larger "national" organization. At any rate, get out there and find the club in your city. It's only a matter of time before they get more specific. The Chicago Sci-Fi Social Media Club. The Denver Mile High Football Social Media Club.

If you know of any social media clubs in your area, feel free to drop a link in the comments and tells us if you've participated.