Yes, people are crazy.
And Black Friday shopping is our time to shine. Emerging out of the turkey-induced coma and getting up off the couch to stand in line at shopping centers to take advantage of mega deals and absurdly low prices. If you are one of these Black Friday shoppers, I mean no disrespect, but c’mon…. I digress.
Silverpop, a digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile and social, recorded social data to figure out what the most popular words mentioned, places checked in at and at what time.
According to this article from Mashable composed by Brian Anthony Hernandez and the data collected, a digital word cloud reveals that “coffee,” “deals” and “sale” were among the most popular words used on Black Friday.
In addition. the top 10 retailers that had the most check-ins went as followed:
1. Target
2. Walmart
3. Best Buy
4. Macy’s
5. Apple Store
6. Sears
7. Kmart
8. Costco
9. Sam’s Club
10. Walgreens
There was a spike in check-ins from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday evening, before dropping off after midnight. Only to rise again, starting at 8 a.m. on Friday and remaining relatively high for the remainder of the shopping day.
While looking at this data is interesting, I think it also could serve as a major purpose. Black Friday is a social phenomenon. Operative word being social. People are compelled to let the social media world know that they are out on Black Friday participating in the mayhem. While they are out they want to take advantage of the best deals around, so social media outlets become their guide to shopping. People are looking for stores tweeting their appealing door-busting deals or for other people sharing their experiences at other stores. A lot of social influence taking place.
There is valuable information here for stores to use for planning their Black Friday shopping experience for next year. It wasn’t surprising to see “deals” and “sale” work their way into the conversation. But coffee? That was a litter different. Maybe next year, stores make it known they will be giving away free coffee to anyone waiting in line or the introduction of a partnership that if you buy something at store X, you can get a half priced coffee at coffee shop Y. Possibilities are all around.
Creating something beneficial from studies and data like this one really go to show how unique and special social media can be, and how influential.
Ray O'C's Blog 
This post is really interesting. I never participate in Black Friday but a lot of people I know do. It is interesting to see the statistics of Black Friday such as; check ins and digital word clouds. It is really cool how Foursquare can measure how many check ins there were during the day and at what time. It is also really cool that through Foursquare we can see the most popular places that were checked into on Foursquare. Overall I think it is great that we can get such statistics from Foursquare.
I have never seen what is so fun about sitting outside a Wal-Mart, waiting in a long line just to buy cheaper gifts. Some of the videos you can watch on YouTube are just plain hysterical. People legitimately fight over barbie dolls and toy cars for their kids. But when it comes to social media, Black Friday is a huge hit. People even on my timeline alone were tweeting about it at an overwhelming rate, talking about deals and what crazy things they have seen people do just to get that one gift. Hopefully our society can become a little less crazy on Black Friday, but until then I just do not see that happening.
I think it’s interesting how Black Friday has went from a lowkey event for serious sale seekers, to a weekend-long holiday for everyone to spend money. And social media has yet to make a huge impact on this weekend. But I’m confident someday, somebody will find a way to use social media to get people to spend money.
I agree with Matt. Kind of scary that Black Friday is such a big deal. I discovered a “LifeProTip” on reddit about Black Friday that I found particularly interesting. Since Wal-Mart has a 7-day price match guarantee, you can go in a couple days earlier, shop to your heart’s content and then go in on Monday and get all the Black Friday deals anyways.
Black Friday or should I say Black Thanksgiving as the past few years have come to show us is getting out of hand. There is no reason to keep pushing back the deals earlier and earlier. Soon Thanksgiving will be a brunch and afterword it will be shopping for two straight days. I think stores or companies should team up on this day to promote one another. People have to make choices on where to shop, those who have the best deals generally win. If you have two stores teaming together it works for both parties. Great points made in the article.