Social networking sites have quickly become "the" place to find holiday savings. Almost half of the big retail chains are using the social media this year to offer special holiday discounts.

According to the Web site Savings.com Share, Twitter, and other social networking site are quickly becoming saving tools for the holidays.

Toys "R" Us recently released a sneak preview of its Black Friday deals on Facebook. Toys "R" Us followers were the first to learn about half-priced Barbie dolls, $4 DVD's for children and up to 80 percent off children's favorites such as Little Pet Shop toys.

Staples had a similar strategy. It offered $40 off Bluetooth headsets and $130 off certain GPS units.

How It Works

If you sign up for free accounts on Facebook and Twitter, you can search and "friend" your favorite stores. Those stores will then send you tweets or notices about secret sales.

Members can also search for others who share savings information and find a stream of coupon codes, free shipping and member's only

sale information delivered directly to your account.

Facebook has a Black Friday info page with more than 220,000 friends. A deal site called "woot" has 1.5 million followers on Twitter.

For more on black Friday click here http://www.blackfriday.info/