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What is Black Friday you wonder? It's the first day American retailers move into the black financially, according to this accepted wisdom.
Up until now, most US stores have been operating at a loss until the big shopping surge that is the holiday season. Retailers now are more hopeful than ever that it's going to be a profitable and busy year compared to the last one - and they have much to lose if not.
With consumer spending cold for the past 18 months, US retailers of all types - department stores, luxury boutiques, category killers (those who specialise in a particular product area, such as Toys R Us or Office Depot) - hope to heat up the season with more visits and more spending per visit.
That's why they're relying on marketing which uses social media including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
These web-based broadcast tools let stores quickly get the word out via text messages and the mobile phones' web-surfing capabilities about special offers and short-lived promotions, often only lasting a matter of hours.
Stores including WalMart (owner of Asda), BestBuy (the electricals retailer now partnered with Carphone Warehouse to open in the UK in 2010), Target and others are using the power of this marketing approach because it not only draws footfall but also gets people spreading the news via word of mouth.
Best Buy targeted over 1 million Facebook fans when it published its own deals on Black Friday, with its stores buzzing according to the real-time Twitter entries so far. It's also promoting its deal of the day over the entire holiday period for the first time ever.
As a marketing approach, social networking is very powerful not just because of the affordability of reaching masses of shoppers, but because the medium - the mobile phone - is so prevalent.
One thing is certain: any promotions must be handled with care to avoid disappointment should a promoted item become out of stock.
In the past, consumers have turned violent when the object of their affection is denied them.
