Twitter helps Dell's sales

BEIJING, June 15 (Xinhuanet)-- Twitter helped Dell to surpass 3 million U.S. dollars in sales, according to Dell on Sunday.

Dell sells refurbished systems through Twitter, the online social network in which people post and subscribe to mini-messages, called "tweets," at @DellOutlet, which the computer maker says has more than 600,000 followers.

In making sales through @DellOutlet, Dell sends "tweets" to subscribers, telling bargain hunters the latest available refurbished systems. The company also messages coupons and clearance events.

Since launching @DellOutlet in 2007, Dell Company has earned roughly 3 million U.S. dollars from its followers on Twitter, who have clicked from posts on the site to Dell's own sites to purchase goods, according to Stefanie Nelson's corporate blog Thursday, who manages the Twitter account.

Although that amount of money is miniscule compared with Dell's overall 12.3 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for the first quarter of 2009, the model is one with high potential for growth. Dell's success in enticing buyers shows that money can be made through the social network.

Dell's success is being watched closely by Twitter, which has yet to establish a business model for making money. The social network has said it plans to eventually draw revenue by assisting businesses in promoting and selling products through Twitter.

In addition, the company is looking to draw a profit through search, capitalizing on the real-time nature of its messages. How search would be monetized is not yet clear.

While not providing specifics, Nelson said that Twitter is soliciting feedback from Dell and two companies are testing new features.