By Betsy Cameron Williams, Facebook Data Analyst

The holiday season is upon us, and across the U.S., people are using Facebook to connect with their favorite apps and brands. Here are some interesting trends and data points from the past week.

Mall Check-Ins on Black Friday

As consumers hunted for the best Black Friday deals, the malls most checked-in to in the U.S. were:

Cyber Monday Referral Traffic

Yesterday, a number of Internet retailers saw significant spikes in referral traffic from Facebook. Across the top Internet retailers on Facebook – pulled from the IR 500 – Cyber Monday traffic increased 240% compared to average referral traffic from the last several Mondays. Some notable highlights:

• Harry & David – up 11,425%
• 1-800-Flowers – up 5,477%
• Finish Line – up 1,213%
• Coldwater Creek – up 1,084%
• American Girl – up 695%
• Dillards – up 593%
• Crocs – up 479%
• Newegg – up 478%
• LOFT – up 474%
• Eddie Bauer – up 470%

25 Most Talked About Retail Brand Pages

Of U.S.-based retailers, below are the 25 people were most talking about on the day of Black Friday, based on our People Talking About This metric for the day of Black Friday. Interestingly, these 25 retailers were also the most talked about brands of all U.S. brands on Facebook this Black Friday.

1. Walmart
2. Toys “R” Us
3. Macy’s
4. Amazon
5. Converse
6. Foot Locker
7. Spencer’s
8. Aeropostale
9. Target
10. Kohl’s
11. Coach
12. Champs Sports
13. Best Buy
14. Finish Line
15. Ace Hardware
16. Keurig
17. Forever 21
18. Lowe’s Home Improvement
19. Gap
20. Jcpenney
21. Bed Bath & Beyond
22. Sears
23. QVC
24. Build-A-Bear Workshop
25. Disney Store

Increase in Mentions of Holiday Terms

Comparing mentions of the following terms (in posts and comments) from U.S. users on Black Friday to a week ago, we found that:

• mentions of “Black Friday” jumped 1450%
• mentions of “shopping” jumped 586%
• mentions of “mall” jumped 304%
• mentions of “sales” jumped 162%

Facebook-Exclusive Deals and Holiday Apps

Here are what ten brands are offering consumers on Facebook this holiday season:

• Kohl’s launched a holiday campaign to donate $1 to Toys for Tots, up to $500,000, for every new person who Likes Kohl’s Facebook Page from Nov. 23 through Dec. 24. Fans will also receive exclusive offers and can help select items to go on sale.
• FedEx created a ‘Ship to Friends’ app (for desktop or mobile) that enables people to ship packages directly from the FedEx Facebook Page. People can then share the news that they’ve given friends a package.
• Fab is offering discounts – via a Facebook-exclusive Offer for new Fab members – for the infamous Beardo bendable mustache hat. Beardo typically sells for $34, but Fab is offering this to new Fab Facebook members for only $24.
• Gap is using Postagram to allow fans to send their own Facebook, Instagram and mobile camera shots as real, printed postcards to friends free of charge. The cards are delivered with a pop-out square photo and a message from the Facebook sender.
• Macy’s created a My Macy’s timeline app which enables people to discover products and sales, create shopping lists, Like and share items with friends and share that they’ve “shopped for” particular things.
• StyleMint ran their second CyberMint broadcast, a live shopping event hosted by various celebrities and stylists, on Cyber Monday and streamed activities via Facebook.
• PetSmart asked their nearly 1.5 million fans to vote on Facebook for the top 10 holiday gifts for their pets. Their Page offers an easy to use shopping guide with fun gifts ideas for your favorite pet.
• Samsung’s America’s Smartest Shoppers app enables people to take a quiz to test their “Shopper IQ”, shares Black Friday Deals and automatically enters people to win daily grand prize product giveaways.
• Beyond The Rack, a Canadian flash deal site, posted deals from brands such as Steve Madden, Ugg, Kitchen Aid and more to their Facebook Page on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They are also offering $10 off purchases, exclusively for Facebook fans.
• Red Stamp created a free iOS app using Facebook’s mobile SDK which enables people to create custom greeting cards with messages and photos. People can then post the card to their friend’s Facebook wall or send it as a message to specific Facebook friends.
• Tiny Prints gave a special thanks to their Facebook fans by offering 25% off holiday cards and address labels.