As you probably heard, REI closed its doors on Black Friday and the reason was brilliant. REI wanted its customers to get outside instead.

#OptOutside is the hashtag used to share what people did outside on Black Friday on social media. The cool thing is, #OptOutside is trending. Other outdoor companies also closed their doors on Black Friday. #OptOutside even created a website with local hiking trails on it.

“For 76 years, our co-op has been dedicated to one thing and one thing only: a life outdoors. We believe that being outside makes our lives better. And Black Friday is the perfect time to remind ourselves of this essential truth,” said REI CEO Jerry Strtizke.

He announced REI would break tradition and give its more than 12,000 employees the day off, “paying them to head outside.” I bet those employees were happy.

Some National Parks liked REI’s idea, so they offered free or reduced admission on Friday.

Black Friday is the most important retail day of the year. It was a bold move to decide to close their doors. But advertising and blowing up social media with inspirational reasons to get outside and do something healthy and fun is working. People love it. It is the only Black Friday news I have paid attention to besides the tragic deaths of shoppers being trampled in the past.

Here's somenumbers for Black Friday 2015:

-- Online shoppers spent $4.45 billion.

-- According to CNN, shoppers were willing to spend 25 percent more this year than last year.

-- An average of $369 a person is spent.

-- More than 1 million people chose to #OptOutside

According to CNN, “Videos filled social media with the bad behavior of some shoppers pushing, hitting, and even kicking one other -- or store security personnel -- to get the hot items in limited supply.”

So, let’s see what people did on Black Friday. What would you rather be shopping for? A new TV or a hiking trail that you’ve never been on?

Share and compare!

#BlackFriday:

#OptOutside

Where would you rather be?

Asking customers to go outside and share their adventure with everyone on social media is a fantastic idea. It brings the outdoor community together and gets people pumped to do something different.

Regardless of what you did on Black Friday, let's all be thankful for the earth and all it provides on a holiday that is all about consumption and material needs.

Are you going to #OptOutside next Black Friday? Let’s make this tradition continue.