Dmitri Williams (PhD, Michigan 2004) is a professor at USC Annenberg, where he teaches courses on technology and society, games and data analytics. His current work focuses on the study of influence among populations through the concept of “social value.” His ongoing work centers on the social and economic impacts of new media, often within online games. He works actively with companies and startups across the tech sectors. Williams was the first researcher to use online games for experiments and to undertake longitudinal research on video games, and now uses a wide variety of methods ranging from experiments, surveys, and machine learning to content analysis and the occasional ethnography. 

He has published in the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Communication Monographs, and others. His work has also been featured in several major media outlets, including NPR, CNN, the Economist, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times, and others. Williams testified before the U.S. Senate on video games and has served as an expert witness and consultant in federal court cases.