At its LiNC user conference held in San Francisco on Wednesday, Lithium Technologies made the first hints about how it plans to use "social influence" startup Klout which it acquired earlier this year.

According to the information shared by Lithium, which provides services to facilitate businesses in navigating social media, the use of Klout will come to the fore in a forthcoming plan. Part of that plan will include new products which will allow retailers - like Best Buy and Sony - to embed buttons, or widgets, into their websites, to enable customers to give feedback about their products.

Lithium further explained that if the Klout score of a customer who clicks on the widget is 'high,' the customer may receive a discount coupon from the retailer for a product, like a TV.

Revealing that, to begin with, a series of 'action widgets' will start showing up on the websites of certain businesses later this year, Lithium CEO Robert Tarkoff said the company essentially attempts to build a "shared value network" in which consumers as well as retail brands can take advantage of Lithium's analytics.

Tarkoff further added that it was for building a "shared value network" that Lithium "had to increase our investment on the consumer side;" and, towards that end, the company acquired the Klout social influence measurement startup.