Their email first states that there are a range of discounts from 45% – 60% which is enough to probably push a lot of people to click through which is a good first step. Everyone loves a mystery man or this case mystery deal.

Then the user is quickly given a list of rules that wasn’t even necessary as the “Unlock the Game” block already showed users call to actions that were common for social media users. The “Make just one social share to active” encourages users by using the word “just one” suggesting that it’s quick and painless.

After the initial social media action, the user is shown stocking which have question marks which encourages them to unlock the next discounts by sharing more.

Next the user is encouraged to share more by showing them that they can earn more discounts. The user eventually knows that to earn the highest discount you will need to finish completing sharing on all the major social networks, Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter.

Well done campaign Link Assistant. Happy holidays. We’re a fan of your product.

Well it’s the biggest things to retail businesses since Ebay. It’s one of the best distribution channels now for your products. Recently hitting 10 million users, it has captured one of the most lucrative demographics on earth, women. Well what’s a purse or clothing company to do? Well right now, you can’t create a brand page but definitely probably get an invite to start “sharing” not “spamming” the site with your fabulous products. Or simple just add a “pin it” button on your site.

By having your products on Pintrest, you get a definite social media head start of your competitors. You may not get link backs but definitely will get your product out there with very little work other than creating some great images.

We’ve been a bit busy at THINKademic working to make our client’s sites and businesses better but in our spare time, we practice our craft by making interesting things such as MANMOSH. MANMOSH is a network of sites that scourers the web for the most interesting products from around the web. It sorts products based on style and interest as well as by categories so if you’re simply looking for any product by a certain style such as some more edgy, you can check out STREETMosh or if you want something more sophisticated, then 007Mosh is the site for you. It’s a new way of looking at men’s products. There will be more features in the coming months so keep an eye out.

So it’s been quite a while since we told you that we were launching a new site but we better late than never. Ever since opening ourselves to new clients, we’ve been working like bees. But we have a lot in store as well as many more updates and tips on the blog. We’re also working on a couple internal projects and hopefully we’ll release those faster than we released the redesign of the site.

1. OS of Choice for Lower Priced Devices: Google will essentially give it away for free thus lower the production cost of laptops, notebooks and tablets for manufacturers. This is to the detriment of Microsoft mainly (perhaps you should not have created such a bloated OS).

2. Growth in Market Share: Chrome OS and Chrome browser will grow in market share in browsers and operating systems.  This causes a drop in Windows operating system as well as the dreaded Internet Explorer (Firefox as well).  (Note that Windows 7 and IE 9 were vast improvements but innovation just came too slow).

3. More Users and Increased Product Usage: Users of Chrome OS devices will become new users of all of Google Products such as Gmail, Docs, and Maps.  Increasing user base and time spend on products thus increasing revenues.  While there are users of Google products, most probably don’t use Google Docs or other products.

4. Further Growth in Android because of Chrome OS: Android and Chrome OS will be increasing intermingled as users will prefer to sync their laptop with their mobile phones as well.

5. Software Developers to become Chrome App Developers: With the need for sophisticated applications for the new cloud based OS, companies will find a new market for their products aside from Mac and Windows.

6. Growth of Subscription Based Apps: Users will become increasingly dependent on paying monthly for applications instead of buying them since they can now be used across devices.

7. Chrome TV: Google TV may also be linked with Chrome OS to provide a better experience.  Image surfing the web and clicking the “Watch” later button and it’ll appear on your Google TV.  Perhaps you have something in your Google Cloud storage and you simply go to your TV and pull it from the cloud to watch.

8. Increasing Dependence on Google Products: Because the whole Chrome OS experience is dependent on logging in and creating an account, users will be increasing used to the Google interface and products causing dependence.

9. Chrome OS Education Edition: Because the OS is fast and simple, it would be ideal for laptops for young children and students.  It would not be a surprise for Google to spearhead a campaign to have Google Chrome OS notebooks in the hands of every student.

10. Chrome OS Offline Features Created:  I have not used the OS yet but I see eventually there is an increasing need for a Offline feature.  If it doesn’t come out with a strong feature, it will be built out with super caching of all programs and processes.

11. Chrome OS Virtualization: People will still want their other programs so I would image that Google would created Chrome OS to allow for these programs to be used on the OS in a separate “sandbox” or container.  I’m sure the idea is highly complex but it would be awesome to create a faux Windows OS to allow for the running of these programs.

12. Down Goes Online Security: Since Chrome OS handles security, there will probably be lower sales for software security.

13. Chrome OS Enterprise Edition: Yes Google will end up wrapping their Google Apps with Chrome OS in one neat and simple package.  Simply rent a computer from a authorized dealer and log on, then magically your company computer is all set up.

14. Death of the IT Guy: For major companies the shift probably won’t happen very fast, but for small companies, they will increasing like the cloud and paying for an Enterprise Chrome OS since it simply kills the need for the IT guy or entire department.

15. Growth in Google Search: Since the OS has the Google search bar, it essentially puts the search everywhere the user is on the device.  This will become a seamless interface that generates even more money.

Those are just some possible impacts and events that may occur.  I think they are highly likely than just a simple list.  But I think it has large ramifications in how people will interact with the web across multiple devices (laptop, desktop, TV and phone) in multiple areas of life (personal, work, and school).  This simply links everything that Google has been doing together.  That’s why the cloud and Google Chrome OS is different.

We’re moving into a new direction of making web things now.  Web things as in things that we want to create.  We love design and web integration of business but we have the opportunity to pick projects that we love working on so with that luxury, we’re working on fun stuff that makes us lose sleep.  We’re always open to ideas but right now, we’re a bit busy.

I started this consultancy as more of a side business that expanded to a more demanding challenge where helping multiple clients lowered the quality of work while also decreased the benefits to both parties. The experience has been a tremendous stepping stone to creating a business model that helps small businesses and start ups that grow dreams into reality. We have progressed far in terms of skills and experience. But now, we will exclusively focus on a partnership relationship as opposed to regular client relationship with future businesses because we feel that the benefits and advantages are more significant to both parties. We will expand on this in this coming new year. Also be on the look out for an increasing frequency of updates on the site as well as the blog. Enjoy the rest of 2009 and blast your way into 2010.

Thinkademic is part consulting and part web company as we not only consult companies on the best ways to use and optimize the web as a tool but we develop new business web techniques to take advantage of the dynamically changing web environment.  We are a social company that feels that the web can do more than just create more efficient and profitable companies but it is a platform that can create a better world.  In the web, we trust.

- Thinkademic