国际英语新闻：New York City promotes "Small Business Saturday"

NEW YORK, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Monday to launch "Small Business Saturday," a nationwide campaign to spur business for small merchants on Saturday, November 27th.

New York City is the first U.S. city to proclaim November 27th as "Small Business Saturday," which falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, traditionally two of the busiest shopping days of the year. Bloomberg was joined by American Express Chairman and CEO Kenneth I. Chenault on Monday at City Hall to promote the campaign.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the glue that holds communities together, and we've always sought new ways to support them -- something that became even more important when the national economic downturn began," said Mayor Bloomberg.

As part of the campaign, American Express is launching a national advertising campaign and social media campaigns through Facebook and Twitter. The company will give the first 10,000 business owners who sign up 100 U.S. dollars of free Facebook advertising to help build online buzz and drive customers to shop at their businesses on Small Business Saturday.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there were nearly 28 million small businesses in the United States last year, and over the past two decades, they've created 65 percent of net new jobs.