Dell made $6.5 million in sales through Twitter

Dell Rides Twitter to $6.5 Million in Sales
http://mashable.com/2009/12/08/dell-twitter-sales/

The company tells us that they’ve now generated a total of $6.5 million in revenue from their Twitter (Twitter) presence, where they have nearly 1.5 million followers on their @DellOutlet account (and 3 million “connections” across all social sites).

Also, from Dell:

@DellOutlet Surpasses $2 Million on Twitter
http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/06/11/delloutlet-surpasses-2-million-on-twitter.aspx

There was some buzz back in December around Dell generating over $1 million in revenue by posting offers and responding to questions on Twitter.com/DellOutlet—there’s still mention of it on Twitter even today. Since we started back in 2007, we’ve earned more than $2 million in revenue at @DellOutlet, attributed directly to our Twitter activity.

Here is Dell's Twitter summary page on Dell.com:
http://www.dell.com/twitter

For hostels who aren't on Twitter yet or who are wondering how to use it, there is a page on How to use Twitter (for hostels) in the Hostel Wiki. For hostels, I don't see it as a way of making direct sales as much as it is a way to connect with bloggers and media. (Social media influencers.) It can be used for sales too, if you monitor keywords and provide helpful travel tips.

Social media is online word-of-mouth. There are already bloggers and journalists out there creating content. Even if you don't create content (e.g., blogging) you can use social media to distribute your message to people who do create content...