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Dell makes USD3m on Twitter

Fri Jun 12 2009, 08:37 AM UTC+01:00

Dell’s Twitter presence is responsible for more than USD3m worth of sales, says the company. According to Dell's blog, USD2m of this is the result of offers advertised on DellOutlet, a Twitter feed where the company promotes discounted products. The rest is from customers entering Dell’s website via Twitter links and spending money in departments other than the outlet store.

It is somewhat ironic that Twitter – a company that has spurned advertising since day one – is now hosting effective ads from third parties, and failing to monetise them. Given the sums of money involved, it is reasonable to think that Dell would be willing to pay Twitter for the service it is getting.

Twitter has so far failed to take advantage of this opportunity. However, this may be set to change. Twitter has just begun the task of authenticating user accounts, a service that could ultimately lead to revenues from corporate clients.

Twitter says its immediate goal is to cut down on fake Twitter feeds, for instance celebrity impersonations. It is investigating accounts purporting to belong to celebrities, such as star user Ashton Kutcher, and awarding ‘verified’ status to those that are genuine. As well as actors and musicians, Twitter is approaching politicians and public bodies.

Twitter is not yet offering the service to private companies. However, there is no reason why it couldn’t extend the service to these users. There is also nothing to stop Twitter from charging private companies for the privilege of ‘verified’ status. This could be the first step to monetising corporate accounts, a project that Twitter is known to be planning.

The verified corporate account could be the first of many ‘tools’ that Twitter intends to offer its business users. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone recently told Reuters Global Technology Summit that the company is planning to offer tools, not ads, in its bid to make money out of its popular platform.

The idea of charging for certain tools over and above the free offering seems more likely to provide a sustainable revenue stream than simply charging for all business accounts, a strategy many say would drive away users.