During the interview Joel shared  a list of retailers he thinks are managing social media well, the motivation behind his recently-published book, how to create content people want to read, and his opinion on how to balance the amount of content posted on Twitter and Facebook.

As I checked my inbox this morning, I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve received over the long Thanksgiving weekend, not to mention this morning. Retailers are breaking out the big guns and offering free shipping, free monogramming, and 30% off deals.

TIME Magazine says some best deals can be found on CyberMonday.com, and I agree. Not just because it’s NRF’s and Shop.org’s online shopping website, but because the site features hourly deals and a strong showing of more than 700 different retailers. The best part? A portion of the proceeds goes to the Ray Greenly Scholarship Fund, to promote careers in eCommerce.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are only a little over a short week away, but the deals have already begun.  I already started my shopping and have been inspired by the special deals on www.CyberMonday.com, Shop.org’s website which features deals from over 650 merchants. I’m also enticed by the free gift card giveaways on the Cyber Monday Facebook page and Twitter page.

Many of our members have contributed hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards and they are all being handed out to the CyberMonday.com fans. In fact, CyberMonday.com plans to hand out $250 in gift cards each day until December 18th.

Since I work for NRF, I’m unfortunately ineligible. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of some of the deals! CyberMonday.com has already handed out $50 gift cards to fans from Sears,  blinds.com and Border’s. Bobbi Brown cosmetic cases were given away yesterday.

Today’s special hand out is $75 gift bags from Origins, and all you have to do is become a fan, and tell us what you would buy! Isn’t it the most wonderful time of the year?

During the interview, Matt shares his take on how the economy has affected customers’ shopping habits, the relaunch of the Collective Brands website, how Payless and Stride-Rite give back to the community,  and what shoes he’s wearing.  Read the full interview on the Shop.org blog.

The Sartorialist, aka Scott Schuman, descended on Washington last night to sign his recently released book and to celebrate the first anniversary of  Washington Post’s fashion glossy, Fashion Washington. A couple of my NRF colleagues and I were able to make his acquaintance.

The Sartorialist takes photos of “ordinary” people in “ordinary” clothes, but his photos turn out anything but. He regularly contributes to GQ and features people wearing clothing from high end retailers to more affordable trends.

It’s not every day that I get to meet a global celebrity, but meeting Mr. Schuman was a pleasure. He was friendly and inquisitive and seemed happy to be the guest of honor.

As I was checking out the crowd– because people watching (especially stylish people watching) is one of my favorite things– I couldn’t help but think about the bad reputation DC gets for being too buttoned up and not quite up-to-par when it comes to fashion.

Can we attribute the current “stylish” trend to DC being such a transient city, or the fact that major retailers and even smaller boutiques have moved into town? Maybe. Or perhaps the ladies of DC have taken a page from Mrs. O’s style book.

NRF’s Ellen Davis spoke to CNBC about the outlook for the holiday season and what this means for both retailers and consumers. Davis said “retailers know the best way to bring consumers into the store is price, so we’re expecting a lot of these aggressive sales to start soon.”

Retailers, how are you preparing for the holidays?

In her testimony, Bernstein said “If struggling retailers cannot finance inventories for the 2009 holiday season – their greatest opportunity for revenue for the year – they could go out of business. Extension of the NOL carryback period would provide an important source of capital to finance ongoing operations and retain employees. If NOL carryback is not enacted soon, tens of thousands of additional retail jobs will be  lost.”

NRF’s Ellen Davis spoke to CNBC about the spooky spending numbers.

In the interview with Susan Lyne, she talks about Gilt’s recent launch of their new site, Jetsetter, why she believes Gilt is successful, if she thinks her customers are drawn to the exclusivity of a shopping club, her experience working for Martha Stewart Living, how she believes the economy effects her business now and in the future, ways to snag one of the 104 open positions at Gilt, and her presentation today about viral marketing at Shop.org’s Annual Summit.