Social media has grown rapidly over the past few years and, in terms of public relations, it has changed everything. Working in PR, I’ve seen social media change the way I communicate, connect with other people, receive my news, share stories and, overall, the way I work—it’s exciting to be part of this transformation!

Now, there is a day dedicated to the fabulous field of social media. Today, June 30, has been designated Social Media Day. This day, created by Mashable, was designed to be a global celebration of the revolution of media becoming a social dialogue.

To celebrate Social Media Day, there are more than 460 meetups in 74 countries around the world that will take place tonight. In the Phoenix area, Social Media Arizona is hosting the Tempe Social Media Day Meetup at MADCAP Theater from 5-7 p.m. Guests will have the opportunity to meet other social media enthusiasts in the area and give a verbal, in-person Tweet about why they love social media, their favorite social media tool or their successes with social media. If you can’t attend the meetup, you can stay involved with the activities by following Tweets that include #smday.

Will you be at MADCAP tonight? What are you doing to celebrate Social Media Day?

I have a love for letterpress, actually, it’s more of an addiction. Some might think that letterpress is an art of the past but, I think, it’s making a fantastic comeback. There are tons of great online boutiques that feature letterpress cards, invitations and even calendars. My favorite resource right now for unique letterpress gifts is Hammerpress. They offer some really off-the-wall cards and calendars—my favorite is the beard postcard.

Now, for those of you who are hardcore letterpress lovers like me, I happily introduce you to the Letterpress Lovers Club. If you join this club, the awesome people at Sunlit Letterpress will send you a cool letterpress treat, like stationery or note cards, every month! For me it doesn’t get much better.

What are some of your favorite letterpress or other unique art resources?

Twitter introduced a new feature, called Twitter Places, that I think could be beneficial for B2B companies. It allows you to assign your location to a Tweet. It also gives each location a dedicated Twitter page where users can view recent Tweets and check-ins (integrated with Foursquare and Gowalla) associated with that place.

How can this benefit B2B companies?

If a customer or prospect comes across the Twitter Place page associated with your business, he or she can view the Tweets and check-ins listed on that page. If someone has never heard of your business before, that feed can have a huge impact on that person’s first impression of your business.

So, B2B companies, make sure your corporate Twitter account is associated with your office location before you Tweet, and inform co-workers who are on Twitter to associate their Tweets with your business’ location while they’re at work. This will enable your Twitter Place page visitors to connect with your employees. And, I think it’s important for employees to make a connection with customers and prospects that goes beyond the products or services a business sells.

Twitter Places is now available. Below your tweet box you will see “Add a location to your tweets.” Simply click on the “Turn it on” link.

Do you think this feature could benefit B2B companies?

If you’ve read my previous posts on B2B Fishbowl, you know that I’m a big advocate for social media. I think it’s a great addition to marketing and PR campaigns and I always want to learn more about this ever-changing field.

This week, while implementing a new social media plan for a client, I wondered, when it comes to Facebook, is there a way to determine how much a Facebook fan is actually worth? Of course, I have other success metrics in the plan including measuring the velocity of fans within the first 30 days, visits to the fan page and number of comments or “likes” each week, but I was still curious about the value of a fan.

Through research, I found an article titled “How Much Is a Facebook Fan Really Worth?” It outlines a strategy from a firm called Syncapse that puts an actual dollar value on a Facebook fan. According to them, an average Facebook fan is worth $136.38. This was determined by asking fans of top brands on Facebook why they were fans of those particular companies and about their past and future buying habits.

I’m not completely sure that this conclusion is entirely accurate but, it’s interesting to see that companies are trying to put a value on a fan.

Have you ever put a value on your Facebook fans? What methods have you used to do this?