Ah, Black Friday. It’s the day that everybody seems to go completely insane over great deals. But does anybody really enjoy waking up at 4am and waiting for hours in the cold just to save some money? Not to mention all of the linebacker moves you  saw while watching Thanksgiving football you’ll be mimicking to fight through the crowds. Plus, who knows if the 5 $200 laptops in stock will be snagged before you can even get to the tech department? Now more and more businesses are taking another approach to Black Friday… one that will certainly be far less painful. Yep, you guessed it…social media!

Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are providing businesses with another channel to push their Black Friday deals and customers are paying attention. And who wouldn’t? If you’re a fan of a business on Facebook, or are following them on Twitter, you’re probably interested in what they have to offer. So, when you see those businesses posting early Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals you’ll probably look to see what’s on sale.

Cyber shopping is easier and faster, plus a lot of businesses offer free shipping and other perks around the holidays. Businesses are sure to benefit from posting bargains to their social media profiles.

A long, long time ago, before social media took over the planet, people would make call after call during the holiday season. Stressing, wondering, and stressing some more. Now, with the power of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, holiday shoppers can skip the phone calls and look online to find out what their friends and family want. Many people are posting holiday wish lists to their profiles and those that dont probably have posted some sort of information that will give you a pretty good idea of what they want or are interested in.

But saving a few phone calls is just the tip of the iceberg in how social media is effecting the way people do their holiday shopping. People are looking to social media

profiles of their favorite brands and stores for deals, special discounts, and coupons. Often times these stores will post deals exclusive to their friends, fans, and followers of their social media profiles.

According to data published by eMarketer 17% of Americans plan to use social media in some way this holiday season. 60% of those people said they would use it to find deals and coupons, 53% to research gift ideas, and 52% to check on gift wish lists.