Tweeting for its supper
Dell may not have much to chirp about of late, with falling profits and ever growing competition from the likes of Acer and HP, but the firm wants the world to know it's not being a twit for prolifically using Twitter.
Indeed, the computer maker reckons it's making money from the service - something of a first, seeing as even the site's own founders don't seemed to have figured that out.
Talking to Bloomberg, Dell's online unit vice president, Manish Mehta, said that the firm has earned an estimated $6.5 million over the last two years in PC, software and peripheral sales from Twitter alone - mainly through promotions tweeted by Dell's hundred strong army of Twitterati.
Far from sharing banal details about their lunch with followers, Dell's Twits apparently work hard to engage with punters, answering questions and concerns whilst linking to various deals and promotions.
Mehta said the company's DellOutlet account currently counts some 1.5 million followers hailing from people in 12 countries (only 12?) and that over the past three months, the number of people following Dell's tweets has shot up by 23 per cent.
The South Americans, seem to have an especially soft spot for Dell's social network musings, with Brazilian users splashing out some $800,000 on Dell Twitter promotions in the past eight months.
Still, if taken in perspective, the results are hardly anything to tweet about; especially if one factors in the fact Dell made some $61.1 billion in revenue last year and another $57 billion in 2007.
When looked at in the context of some $118.1 billion overall, that $6.5 million looks positively anemic, not to mention that the service hasn't stopped Acer from pushing Dell even further down the competitive ladder.
Still, it gives Dell something to tweet to their devoted minions.
