Whether you’re looking to participate in charitable causes or nab as many bargains as you can on Black Friday, there’s a wealth of ways you can use social media to get more out of Thanksgiving this year than the usual tryptophan-induced food coma.

First, the non-selfish avenue. Created by the nonprofit Epic Change Tweetsgiving is a 48-hour fundraising movement that asks people to share what they’re thankful for on their blog, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, or blip.fm (using the hashtag #tweetsgiving, donate $10 for each show of gratitude and repeat it as many times as possible until noon on Thursday. Last year, the group raised enough to build a classroom in Tanzania.

What we are thankful for: The Muppets.

Now, onto the gobbling. Kids-toy retailer Toys R Us has become the fastest-growing brand on Facebook for the moment thanks to its campaign to allow its Facebook fans sneak peeks at Black Friday deals. Meanwhile, grownup-toy seller Apple has announced that it will be offering special deals on November 27. What kind, it hasn’t said, though alleged leaked brochures have been circulating, along with reports that the sales will be online only. Why Apple wouldn’t want to drive up buzz about sales is beyond us, but there it is. And, yes, there is an app for keeping track of Black Friday deals via your iPhone — several, actually (iTunes link).

If you’re a Twitterholic, you probably already know that searching for #blackfriday yields a quantum cornucopia of results, and that @blackfriday is your pilgrim’s pride.

The TrueCar blog predicts that Black Friday’s going to be the best day of the year to get a new ride, thanks to average nationwide discounts of 7.5 percent.

Thanks to sites like Black-Friday.net MyBFDeals.com, TGIBlackFriday.com and many others, it could be a bit overwhelming — not to mention hard to actually get away from the computer and get out into the fray.

But then again, sometimes, it is better to stay home.