As data has shown for prior years, the majority of buzz was posted in the days leading up to the shopping holiday, with the peak occurring on the day of the shopping event itself. In 2011 buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday peaked the day after Thanksgiving and made up 2.9 percent of all buzz that day, representing a 15 percent relative increase in the share of buzz compared to 2010.

Cyber Monday buzz has also increased compared year-over-year, and is likely to climb further as discussion of Cyber Week sales continues throughout the week. An interesting development this year comes from the increase in blog posts about Black Friday, which now accounts for 47 percent of all buzz mentioning it, led by the large volume of blog posts made weeks ahead of the shopping holiday.

What are consumers saying about Black Friday/Cyber Monday?

Looking more closely at what consumers are discussing about the shopping holiday through social media, NM Incite evaluated buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday to uncover popular topics. An overwhelming majority of buzz was neutral in tone, indicating that consumers rely on social media platforms to share information related to deals and sales both online and off.  Another 94 percent of Cyber Monday posts were neutral in tone, with consumers sharing links to sales and deal-related news. Today’s findings reflect an earlier study by NM Incite which showed that receiving deals/discounts was one of the more popular reasons Americans use social media.

NM Incite also looked at the top 10 shared links on Twitter, and found many of the more popular links were also used to share information about Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Posts from popular news sites ranked among the most shared links on Twitter , including a story from Mashable sharing the best Black Friday deals, as well as news coverage about the shopping holiday from CNN and ABC News. The most shared links included pictures on Twitpic related to Black Friday as well. Tweets sharing deals rounded out the list of most shared links on Black Friday, whereas links to deals topped the list for Cyber Monday buzz, making the deals instantly accessible on the shopping holiday.

When do consumers buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday?
Perhaps not surprisingly, overall buzz for each shopping event peaks on the day of the sales, although the majority of buzz occurs in the days of November leading up to the events. There was more total buzz about the holiday sales in 2010 compared to 2009, reflecting the growing amount of buzz overall posted on blogs, message boards/groups, news sites, as well as Twitter and Facebook.

The share of daily buzz mentioning these sales was also higher in 2010: discussion of Black Friday peaked at 2.5 percent of daily buzz in 2010 compared to 1.9 percent of buzz during Black Friday 2009, a relative increase of 25 percent in the share of total buzz.  In comparison, buzz about the Women’s World Cup represented a 1.1 percent share of total buzz, illustrating the significant level of discussion about Black Friday represents. Buzz about Cyber Monday 2010 grew the most, increasing their relative share of buzz by 75 percent compared to 2009.

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday
Looking more closely at buzz between the two shopping holidays, an overwhelming majority of buzz was about Black Friday, which made up more than four out of five messages about the events in 2009. Black Friday buzz made up 79 percent of buzz about these topics in 2010, while Cyber Monday buzz represented only 21 percent of discussion. However in 2010 the share of buzz about Cyber Monday more than doubled compared to 2009, led in part by the increase in discussion about Cyber Week sales in addition to growing interest in the online shopping events.

Where do consumers talk about Black Friday/Cyber Monday?
As consumers try to share news about the latest sales, the majority of buzz about Black Friday and Cyber Monday comes from Twitter, where public posts made up 63 percent of buzz about these events.  The majority of tweets are published on the day of the events themselves. Message Boards and Groups were also a popular venue for savvy shoppers to compare sales, representing 22 percent of online discussion about the shopping events.

Marketers trying to reach holiday shoppers ahead of time might also consider reaching out to bloggers; 2.1 percent of all blog posts in the week leading up mentioned Black Friday. Blogs were twice as likely to discus Black Friday/Cyber Monday compared to buzz from other sources. Posts on news sites also helped drive discussion, with 1.6 percent of posts on news sites mentioning Black Friday during the week of the shopping event.

Unique visitors to the sites included in the Index reached 35.9 million, a 13% increase over this year’s Black Friday Web traffic.

Many of the top online retail destinations on Cyber Monday were the same as those on Black Friday. eBay drew the largest unique audience (10.6 million), while Amazon and Wal-Mart claimed second and third places, with 9 million and 5.2 million unique visitors, respectively.

Among the top 10 online retailers, Sears’ site saw the fastest growth (+58%, year over year).

Beauty was the fastest growing product category on Monday, increasing 151% over the previous Monday, November 24, 2008.

Toys/Videogames ranked second, growing 112% Monday over Monday, while Apparel rounded out the top three with an increase of 58%.

“The growth in traffic to online retail sites on Cyber Monday was better than many people expected, making retailers hopeful that this growth will carry through the holiday shopping season and drive sales,” Ken Cassar, vice president, industry insights, Nielsen Online, noted.  “It remains to be seen if people have done the majority of their shopping on these two big shopping days to save time, or if they are holding out for additional sales and promotions. If history is any indication, we expect that Monday, Dec. 15th will be the peak day for online shopping traffic.”

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by the Associated Press and Bloomberg, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Ad Age, PC World, the Orlando Sentinel, ClickZ.com, and InternetRetailer.com.