Top 50 influential developers in AR/VR/MR/XR of 2018

Do you remember the post that I’ve published some months ago where I said that influencer marketing company Onalytica has put me at #34 place in the classification of the top worldwide VR influencers? Well, it seems that yesterday the same authoritative company has released a new report, containing the top 50 influential developers for each of the most interesting technologies of the moment, that are: Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, IoT, Cybersecurity and of course our beloved augmented and virtual reality. So, who are these nerdy developers that are also great influencers in AR/VR?

The first one is, as always, Rick King. He has more than 200.000 followers and it is completely impossible to surpass him. The funny thing about Rick is that he is also in the classifications as a top influencer even in other technologies, like for instance AI and Cybersecurity. He’s everywhere, he influences everyone :). I’ve got in touch with him various times on Twitter, and I can confirm that he’s a very nice person… so he deserves his crown. The second one is Darshan Shankar, the founder of that epic social VR experience that is BigScreen VR and the third one is Jerome Etienne, that is working on WebAR and previously was at Daqri.

Here below you can find the chart of the top 15 ones: if you want to know who are the top 25 you can find the full list on the dedicated post on Onalytica website. From there you can also download for free a document with the classification of Top 50.

As I always highlight in this kind of posts, this chart is very important because it can suggest you some interesting people to follow on social media, especially on Twitter. This means that you can find some more people that share your passion for virtual and augmented reality and that publish interesting stuff about these topics.

And if you are in marketing, this list is pure gold, because thanks to it you know the people to contact when you have something you want to spread your voice about (e.g. your new VR device or your new VR game). Influencers are able to “influence” other people, so to make other people consider your product. Influencer marketing using developers may be very powerful, as Onalytica suggests:

Developers are very knowledgeable about the niche and can provide you with unfiltered, invaluable feedback on your product, without any inhibitions. Brands can learn a lot about their product and wider product category by reaching out to the developer communities. Developers hold the key to product adoption and innovation, and by engaging with them and promoting your tech broadly you will get visibility to groups that might not have otherwise paid attention to you. Some of them may even go on to become evangelists for your product, which will in turn increase your overall brand awareness. This is why brands like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Adobe and IBM are investing heavily in Developer Evangelism according to CMX.

So, start considering influential developers marketing for your company, if you haven’t done it, yet.

So, my advice is giving a look to the post by Onalytica, even because this time it contains multiple classifications, that span multiple technologies. So, if you have a startup that has a solution that employs virtual reality and artificial intelligence… well, you can spam both the influencers of VR and AI (but don’t tell them I’ve suggested you spam them!). Or if you don’t love only VR, but you love all the cool technologies out there, you can just start following all the top influencers of all the top technologies to stay updated on all the coolest things that are happening in this world. I have already added a lot of contacts from that list… can’t wait to engage with them in some awesome discussions on Twitter!

I want to close this post thanking you all because I’ve been put on this chart, too! As I’ve already said in my previous post, I don’t like the term “influencer” and I absolutely don’t feel as an influencer, but it seems that I’m at the #12 worldwide position as an XR influential developer. This has been possible only because of your love, your engagement and even your critics on the social media. So, this little award is all because of you and I want just to give a super-mega-influencer hug to every one of you.

I hope to be able to reach the top ten in the future… but this is just a vanity metric…

… what I really hope is to engage with most VR passionate people possible and to see my AR/VR new project, that is the consultancy agency New Technology Walkers, to take momentum so that I can live doing the things that I love my whole life!

(Header image by Onalytica)