Inside Social Games

Inside Social Games is the first blog dedicated to tracking the convergence of games and social platforms. Inside Social Games was started by Justin Smith in April 2008 and is based in Palo Alto, California. Lead game reviewer Christopher Mack has been writing since late 2008.

Social games are bringing together family and friends like games never before have. We’re looking forward to tracking not only the games but also the people and companies behind them that are leading the charge into this new and exciting space. We believe some interesting new companies will be created as the worlds of gaming and social networks collide. It should be a fun ride. Please drop us a line any time!

Justin Smith (Founder, Editor)

Justin Smith founded Inside Facebook, the first blog focused on tracking Facebook and the Facebook Platform for developers and marketers, in April 2006. In 2007, he wrote the Facebook Marketing Bible, the most widely referenced book on Facebook marketing today. The Facebook Marketing Bible has been used by thousands of brands, agencies, businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations to craft their Facebook marketing strategy. In 2008, he founded Inside Social Games, the first blog focused on tracking the convergence of games and social platforms.

From 2007 to 2009, Justin served as Head of Product for Watercooler, a venture-backed startup based in Mountain View, California, and one of the leading developers of applications on Facebook and other major social platforms. Under Justin’s leadership, Watercooler’s Facebook applications reached well over 30 million Facebook users, and Watercooler established itself as the leading network of sports and television entertainment applications. Justin remains an advisor to Watercooler today.

Prior to Inside Facebook, Justin was an early employee at Xfire, the largest social utility for gamers, which was sold to Viacom for $102 million in 2006. Prior to Xfire, Justin earned a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University, where he was a Mayfield Fellow and a recipient of the Terman Award in Engineering.

Prior to Stanford, Justin co-founded the MyDesktop Network, an early internet media company, in 1996. MyDesktop was later acquired by Jupitermedia/Internet.com in 1999.

Justin grew up in South Carolina and currently lives in Palo Alto, California.

Publications

We publish original research to serve application developers and social media marketers working on Facebook. Our current edition:

• The Facebook Marketing Bible: 40+ Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook
• The Facebook Marketing Bible: Agency & Brand Edition
  
• The Facebook Global Monitor: Tracking Facebook in Global Markets

Speaking Engagements

Justin Smith has spoken or moderated discussions at the following conferences, classes, and events:

• Stanford University Continuing Studies - Talk on Facebook business landscape and marketing opportunities (7/15/08, Stanford, CA)
• Graphing Social Patterns East 2008 - Social Games for Social Platforms: Unleashing Viral Fun (6/11/08, Washington, DC)
• InterPlay 2008 - Social Games Everywhere: Methods for Distribution and Development (5/22/08, San Francisco, CA)
• Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco 2008 - Comparing Social Platforms (4/23/08, San Francisco, CA)
• Graphing Social Patterns West 2008 - Engineering the Viral Loop (3/4/08, San Diego, CA)
• Web Community Forum 2007 - Future of Facebook  (12/5/07, Seattle, WA)
• Stanford University CS 377W: Creating Facebook Apps - Guest speaker on Facebook Platform (11/29/07, Stanford, CA)
• SNAP Summit 2007 - Facebook development (10/26/07, San Francisco, CA)
• Graphing Social Patterns 2007 - Viral Strategy (10/7/07, San Jose, CA)
• Webster University PR Institute 2006 - Talk on social network landscape and marketing opportunities (10/20/06, St. Louis, MO)

Advertise

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Contact Us

Please see the Contact Us page.

Disclosures

Justin Smith is an advisor to Watercooler, but the views on this blog are his own.

Thanks

Thanks to Javier Reyes at Sociable.es for the Facebook Connect WordPress plugin that our implementation is based on.