Sandwiched in between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the relatively new Small Business Saturday, a shopping day which essentially does what it says on the tin.

While unlikely to receive nationwide prominence due to some of the factors that drive those looking for Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals, 2011 still seems to be a tipping point year for Small Business Saturday. Although it doesn’t have massively prominent websites to give it exposure (Etsy being a notable exception, allowing small businesses to compete on much the same e-commerce level as larger retailers do for high-discount shopping days), it does have a lot of grassroots support on sites like Facebook and Twitter where users proudly tout their participation in the holiday and urge fellow Americans to shop local and support small merchants. Also lacking on the coast-to-coast exposure front are national circulars like the ones that come with the Sunday paper, but it does seem the word-of-mouth support given to Small Business Saturday is significant.

Although I tend to buy indie when I can, I’ll admit to being late to the Small Business Saturday party- but when I opened the page three days ago (and “liked” it, as you should do to expose the concept to your friends if you support it) I was staggered by how many people are fans of Small Business Saturday on Facebook. Currently the count sits at 2.7 million plus fans, and 21 of my friends like the initiative. Interestingly, American Express OPEN, the company’s small business division, is responsible for the creation of Small Business Saturday- but even if you don’t dig on big corporations, the worst side effect is increased revenues in the hands of independent businesses.

Do you plan on supporting small businesses this holiday season? Have you bought gifts or other things from indie retailers so far today or in your overall holiday preparations?

Small Business Saturday Gets a Social Media Push, Are You Supporting Indie Businesses Today? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple is a hot commodity on the stock market and that commodity was +4.52 after Tuesday trading when the company announced fiscal third quarter earnings on Tuesday that easily passed Wall Street estimates with $25 billion in sales.

Shares of the world’s top earning tech company jumped 7% in trading to pass the $400 sell point in after hours trading. Apple reported $7.31 billion for the quarter ending June 25, an amount equal to $7.79 per share, that number is up from $3.25 billion or $3.51 per share during the same period in 2010. The company’s biggest gain was revenue which leaped to $28.6 billion for the quarter, up 82%.

Investors will also be paying close attention to credit provider American Express (AXP +0.37%) who will announce their quarterly earnings after the close on Wednesday. AmEx is expected to earn 98 cents per share on revenue totaling $7.34 billion.

Other big company’s releasing numbers on Wednesday include Abbott ABT, Ebay, Johnson Controls, Altria Group and United Technologies.

Apple and Amex Are The Stocks To Watch On Wednesday is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you didn’t get a chance to nab seats for Conan O’Brien’s “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television” tour (or the tickets were out of your price range), you might get a second chance to win them on Twitter.

American Express has found a clever way to capitalize on Conan’s Twitter popularity, directing users to post the following message on their feeds for the chance to win tickets in New York, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, or Los Angeles:

Hey @americanexpress I want to be with Coco in [your closest city]. Pick me! #amexConan

Coco alluded to the contest in a tweet yesterday:

Are you a fan of up close awkwardness? If so, win a chance to meet me courtesy of @americanexpress. Details tomorrow. Good luck, dad.

As promised, he announced the contest today:

Want to see an insecure celebrity avoid eye contact? Meet me courtesy of Amex: http://bit.ly/bEUqsh.

Only one tweet will be counted towards the contest per the official rules, so don’t go spamming your friends with entries. If you’re planning on entering, remember to follow @americanexpress, too, or your entry won’t count. The contest is running from now until Monday, at 11:59pm ET, and five winners will be randomly selected and announced via Twitter on Tuesday, March 23rd at 12:00pm EST.

[via Mashable]

American Express launches Twitter contest for sold-out Conan tour is a post from: The Inquisitr

Need to get higher risk clients of your books? One way is to pay them to leave, and that’s exactly what American Express is doing.

Amex is paying a number of card holders $300 to close their accounts.

“We sent the offer out to a select number of card members,” a company spokeswoman quoted by Reuters said. “We are looking at different ways that we can manage credit risk based on the costumers overall credit profile.”

Card holders must accept the offer by the end of February, and have to close their accounts in March or April. On successfully meeting the requirements, the now former card holders receive a $300 pre-paid American Express card.

Amex was once the domain of the rich, but in recent years has expanded aggressively into consumer credit. That exposure has left Amex, like its competitors with a growing amount of bad debt given the broader economic climate.

$300 to get rid of your credit card sounds like a great deal, and is probably the only time you’re ever likely to see a credit card company pay users as opposed to just raping them taking from them.

Interesting: Amex paying card holders to close their accounts is a post from: The Inquisitr