Dell + Twitter = $1,000,000.

Twitter has made Dell $1 million bucks in revenue. This is such major news for 2 main reasons.

1) It proves Social media can be "cash in hand" profitable
2) It begs us to examine the "How the hell they made this happen?"

I'm sure the article from Internet news will spark a gazillion emails from CEOs and MDs down to line level digital managers telling them to get their ass on twitter. Although those may not be the exact words, i'm sure some "leverage", "explore", "forefront", " maximize" was thrown in for good measure.

So is Twitter the new revenue stream for brands to take notice of? Will tweeting about your latest product promotions ( like Dell does) bring about a new spring of cash? The answer i feel lies in Dell's background. First off, lets not just look at "Dell + Twitter = $1,000,000". The equation goes much deeper as we examine some of Dell's social media position.

Dell has been conversing with its customers ever since Michael Dell took over back in 2007. The best thing he has done is to have made customer focus his only focus. ( It stuns me everytime someone in a meeting says we need to focus on several things) By thinking about what his customers want and hearing those comments enabled sites like Ideastorm and DirectoDell to take place. In the words of the man himself " "If we don't do that at Dell.com, it's going to be on CNET or somewhere," Michael Dell says. "I'd rather have that conversation in my living room than in somebody else's."

From redefining customer service to customer driven product innovation, Dell has over the last 2 years proven to be sincere about this shift in focus. As a result, their tweets are received by a multitude of followers that resulted in this million dollar revenue opportunity.

There is no shortcut to engagement and the equation certainly isn't as clear cut as it seems. If you are suddenly thinking about getting your 15% store discount on twitter. Stop. Go back to the chalkboard and look at the origins of the equation. Yes, you can make revenue from promo tweets but the pre cursor is your followers need to be your friends and top priority.

Song of the blog

Cheated on me by Gavin Degraw

Plurk you twit.. or should it be Tweet you plurk!

Hello world..This is my first post as a social marketing observer. More about me i suppose in the future posts, no better way to know a person than through the passage of time.( and blogs)

Most of you on this humble blog site would recognize it as "that annoying music blog", well it still is; except now i want to annoy most of you further with my "outsights" on stuff that's happening in the world wide web of 2.0.

Plurk is a "free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as plurks) through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length.". Sounds alot like Twitter which sounds alot like a talkative friend whispering absolute garbage into your ear all day.

I haven't jumped on this micro blogging bandwagon as most see it as some license for non censored, unrepentant drivel to make your already boring day that much more meaningless with tweets that inspire one to watch their toenails grow.
What possible intelligent reply would you expect from me after you posted " just had a subway.. yumm".

I know i'm ruffling some twitter's plurks at this very moment but let's look at micro blogging in relation with the rest of the free world.
Yes, you can get opinions, answers, meet new friends ( this is debatable if you start questioning what qualifies someone from being a photo on your twitter wall to an actual friend) and importantly, connect with lots of like minded individuals.
But this is where micro blogging stops making sense.

The assumption that keeps twitters plurking is that there is "someone listening." And most often, there is. But WHO are these "someones" and why are they listening? In my brief fling with twitter and even shorter 1 nite stand with Plurk, i've come to the conclusion that aside from some purists, the majority of people involved in micro blogging are using it because they have to. If you are in web 2.0 at all and you don't own a twitter account, god help you with your virtual social standing. Guess who WONT be invited to the next plurk gathering. So, joining and using Twitter/Plurk/watever is really all about " Better to have and not need /use it than to be found out at the next unconference caught with your twitter pants down."

Most of us already spend way too much time glued to our mobile screens and laptop monitors. Lets use micro blogging wisely shall we? it's a great way to get traffic by tweeting updates, it's also fantastic as a broadcast tool for events, gatherings, its superb for asking for directions if you're in a foreign country. It's wonderful for group project live updates and WIP notes. But it is not a validation for you to tell the world how sleepy you are at 4pm in the afternoon!

Remember technology serves us. Not the other way around. If you're a web 2.0 junkie, get some help. And lastly, being a twit won't make you a "cooler geek" you plurk. Now, how do i convert this whole article in 140 characters?