So, we’ve made it through another Black Friday and Cyber Monday! Two of the most highly anticipated shopping days of the year; retailers and many shoppers turn to social media to provide news of deals and the latest items that have been purchased.

Over 1.4 million tweets referenced this year’s Black Friday, and an estimated 135.8 million Americans were planning to shop over the long Thanksgiving weekend. The shopping extravaganza has spread to my current side of the Atlantic, although this year in the UK, shoppers stayed away from stores and hit the checkout button online.

There’s no doubt that clever marketing and targeted social media campaigns play a big part in making Black Friday and Cyber Monday a success. Over the long weekend, my inbox constantly filled up with emails from retailers, and on platforms like Instagram and Twitter, users shared snaps of their purchases and the great deals they had snagged.

In our snap and share culture, Black Friday is the ideal ‘event’ for social media users to distribute images of their favorite items and declare their brand loyalty.

Social media is a particularly valuable tool for small businesses, and many independent and local retailers took to platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to share their Black Friday and Small Business Saturday deals. On the other side of the coin, Black Friday can highlight the very worst of our society, with several brawls breaking out across the country in various shopping outlets.

Whether you hit the mall or shopped online, we’d love to know the role social media played in your Black Friday. Share your thoughts with us in the comments below or head to Twitter!