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Denver Post, by Andy Vuong
With Facebook and Twitter dominating the online and mobile conversations, seemingly every major event is dubbed "social" these days, from the Olympics to the Oscars.
Not surprisingly, the next few weeks will be referred to as the social shopping season, with more consumers expected to turn to the social networks to voice their opinions on stores and sales and to search for gift ideas, digital coupons and the best deals.
Unlike in years past, Facebook and Twitter are publicly traded companies and, thus, under heavy pressure to show investors how they'll grow ad revenue, particularly during the Christmas holidays when companies spend the biggest chunk of their marketing budgets.
So it's not surprising that Twitter recently commissioned a survey of 1,000 adults that found seven out of every 10 of its users say they'll rely on the microblogging site to "enhance their Black Friday and Cyber Monday experiences."
Big-box retailers such as Best Buy are jumping on board.
"The retailers are realizing that social is providing an unsolicited recommendation engine," said Tim Glomb, vice president of media and entertainment for Denver-based Wayin, which is among a select number of companies that are certified product partners with Twitter.
