I prefer to be global with peers and local with customers.

In person, I rarely meet like minded souls with whom I can have intimate technical discussions, but on-line it's easy (thank you Hacker News friends).

But with customers, I've never found a good substitute for being there with them. I want to see everything they're doing, listen to them bitch, and feel their pain. I want to suffer with them during the day and celebrate with them over beers at night. You just can't do that the same way on-line.