Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal call out Best Buy and Target for increasing their Twitter use for the holidays…

The Wall Street Journal reports that Best Buy Co. Inc., for example, planned an eight-week Twitter campaign that included hour-long group sessions with shoppers who exchange gift ideas and a photo contest among Black Friday shoppers. That contrasts to last year, when the Richfield retailer relied only on promoted Tweets.

A spokesperson said that Best Buy was spending 50 percent more on Twitter marketing this year, though the company didn’t release detailed numbers.

In a different life, I often participate in similar group Twitter sessions (Tweet-ups or Twitter Parties). It is amazing to see the participation. In short you pick a time and a hashtag and invite folks to meet via Twitter to discuss the topics on hand. The parties often include “random” prizes for particularly good Tweets or for answering various questions – or at least they do when sponsored by a commercial entity. I also see many that are sponsored by government agencies to help disseminate information especially on public health issues.

Participants seem to make connections and pick up information (and as I said, prizes).