Augmented Reality: Top 100 Influencers and Brands

Augmented reality (AR) is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. As a result, the technology functions by enhancing one’s current perception of reality. This is in contrast to virtual reality which replaces the real world with a simulated one.

AR is in the early stages of an explosive growth cycle. The Pokemon Go phenomenon raised awareness and expectation for the vision of AR. Worldwide AR markets are poised to achieve significant growth with the use of smartphone apps and headsets or glasses to project digital information as images onto a game image or a work situation. Game Based and Industrial End-To-End Process IoT Augmented Reality markets are anticipated to reach $7 Trillion by 2027 according to Research and Markets.

WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING?

We reached out to some of the top influencers on our list to ask them for their views on augmented reality. We spoke to Keith Curtin (#1), Sanem Avcil (#2), Chris Madsen (#4), Mike Quindazzi (#5), Rob Crasco (#6), Cathy Hackl (#9), Tamara McCleary (#10), Dr. Monica Burns (#11), Daniel Newman (#12) and Tim Hughes (#13). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on the best content and resources on augmented reality.

Keith Curtin – Founder: See Digital
“A recent survey conducted by Forrester Research indicates that by the end of 2016, 4.8 billion people worldwide who use mobile devices will represent half of the global population. This is a clear indication that brands & agencies should be investing heavily in a strong, mobile-first strategy to connect with this mobile centric user-base. Augmented Reality (forecasted to be a $150 billion dollar industry by 2020) creates an opportunity for brands & agencies to build new digital pathways to tell stories, sell to and engage with consumers straight from product packaging in a way that’s never before been possible. While much emphasis lately has been primarily focused on gaming & promotional initiatives (hence the “Pokemon Go” effect) the core value for brands will be the acquisition of unique consumer data sets that can be leveraged by the emergence of Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Data Analytics. There will be an incredible shift in precision within the digital marketing & eCommerce industry in the next few years!”

Sanem Avcil – Founder at Founder Politehelp
“For the following years with better 3D Graphics Augmented Reality games will impress all the gamers.”

Chris Madsen – Social VR Liaison at Road to VR, Partner Relations at Morph 3D
“Augmented Reality devices access, manipulate and present data in real time within the environment of the user. AR is becoming more powerful as evolving technology allows us to capture more environmental data than ever before.  AR applications utilizing this data allow interactions relative to our physical space effectively giving us superpowers such as the ability to look through walls, identify unknown objects, read foreign languages and even get step by step visual assistance with problems all in real time. As a tool for personal enhancement the possibilities are staggering. The most exciting thing to me is how artificial intelligence is converging with AR.  Fully interactive AI assistants, teachers, doctors, guides, instructors, entertainers, companions and more will eventually be just a command away.  What they will they look like and how they will function is a work in progress. At Morph 3D we are implementing dynamic, customizable avatars to provide AI’s, users and in-app characters a way to be represented in our multiple realities. We are living in the future, folks. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!”

Mike Quindazzi – Business Development Leader and Management Consultant at PwC
“How will enterprises engage their people and customers with augmented reality to drive a more productive experience? As the interfaces (including optics), fragment platforms, more powerful systems and new content continue to mature, the success of PokemonGo illustrates at least 10 use cases businesses can win with today.”

Rob Crasco – Co-Owner, VR Advocate / Entrepreneur at Cyber Adept
“Augmented Reality takes the power of the computer and overlays your reality with it. No longer just looking at a screen full of data you look through the screen and see the information in the context of the real world. Right now you can hunt for Pokémon, see directions and information about the street you are on, or get a planetariums worth of information over the night sky. Eventually AR will take the form of glasses that will show you translated versions of printed text, direct you to where you parked your car or help you assemble your Ikea furniture. This of course will lead to a fusion of augmented reality and virtual reality into mixed Reality, either by showing virtual objects in the real world like Microsoft HoloLens or Bringing Real Objects into a virtual space like Intel’s Project Alloy. Augmented reality will eventually become an ultimate tool helping you with your day to day tasks, as indispensable as your smartphone is to you today.”

Cathy Hackl – Virtual Reality/AR Evangelist & Speaker, writer at VRSCOUT, & PR Engineer for Social VR Live

“The conversation surrounding augmented reality and virtual reality, is at its core, one about the future of computing & human-computer interaction”

Tamara McCleary – CEO & Brand Ambassador at Thulium
“While often overshadowed by Virtual Reality (VR), I believe the future is even brighter for Augmented Reality (AR) in the near term.  I’m incredibly bullish for the possibilities of AR because I believe there is a distinct advantage for AR to be accepted sooner and on a wider basis than VR, particularly in the commercial sector.  AR is already in use by a number of companies through the use of Google Glass.  Surprised?  Google Glass is still in the field, particularly being trialed in the health care field for use by EMT’s and Emergency Room staff.  Additional augmented reality headsets like Microsofts Hololens will reach the market soon.  The use of AR in the commercial sector will be a tremendous boon for the technology and will allow it to mature without the need of an instant consumer hit.”

Dr. Monica Burns – Author and Founder of Class Tech Tips
“Scannable technology is a powerful teaching and learning tool. When it comes to engaging students in augmented reality experiences educators can create deeper learning opportunities where students are in the flow of learning. It’s been very exciting to watch teachers explore the ACES Framework outlined in my book *Deeper Learning with QR Codes and Augmented Reality: A Scannable Solution for Your Classroom.* With augmented reality teachers give students the opportunity to interact with course material in a completely new way!” 

Daniel Newman – Principal Analyst at FuturumXYZ | CEO at Broadsuite & V3B

“While Virtual Reality gets a lot of talk because of how cool it is for gaming and entertainment, Augmented Reality is going to truly impact the way we work, play and live. Blended experiences between our digital lives and our offline lives are not only possible, but something we are seeking. From instant access to information to rapid training and development, Augmented Reality will have a huge impact this year and it will get even bigger in the future.”

 Tim Hughes – Co Founder at Digital Leadership Associates
“Augmented Reality not Virtual Reality is the way forward for technology, with backers like Google who are 100% behind AR. The AR market will be driven by gaming, with Pokemon Go being the first mover and Harry Potter soon to be released, I can see that with each blockbuster film there will be an AR game. In the future you will see the integration of apps to offer a single AR interface.  Think Google street maps, plus Siri, plus augmented reality.  Thus giving the user a single experience across multiple platforms.”

MAPPING THE COMMUNITY

We were very interested in seeing which brand and individuals were leading the discussion around augmented reality, so we analysed over 584K tweets from 5th July – 2nd October 2016 mentioning the key words: “Augmented Reality OR augmentedreality OR #AR”. We then identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter. What we discovered was a very engaged community, with much discussion between individuals and brands. Below you can see a network map of the online conversation with number one individual Keith Curtin  at the centre. This map was created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM). Be sure to click on the map to enjoy the full size network diagram in greater detail.

Below you can see another network map created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM) showing the number 1 brand Aurasma at the centre and all the conversations to and from the influencers in their field. If you are interested in learning more about identifying, managing and engaging with influencers click here to get in touch!

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TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top influencers in Augmented Reality. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the full report by clicking the download button below.

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Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Company	Influencer Score
1	@KFCurtin	Keith Curtin	See.Digital	100
2	@Sanemavcil	Sanem Avcil	Politehelp	55.86
3	@vanradd	Vanessa Radd	AOL	34.89
4	@deep_rifter	Chris Madsen	Morph3D, RoadtoVR	34.4
5	@MikeQuindazzi	Mike Quindazzi	PwC	31.49
6	@RoblemVR	Rob Crasco	Cyber Adept	31.29
7	@WTEric	Eric Mizufuka	Espon	31.23
8	@ARstories	Helen Papagiannis	Arstories	31.14
9	@CathyHackl	Cathy Hackl, APR	VRSCOUT, VR Live	31.01
10	@TamaraMcCleary	Tamara McCleary	Thulium	30.64
11	@ClassTechTips	Monica Burns	Class Tech Tips	30.36
12	@danielnewmanUV	Daniel Newman	Futurum Research + Analysis	30.08
13	@Timothy_Hughes	Tim Hughes	Digital Leadership Associates	30.06
14	@Techbradwaid	Brad Waid	DAQRI	30.06
15	@rishmitra	Ambarish Mitra	Blippar	29.84
16	@thgentry	Timothy Gentry	CommuniClique	29.83
17	@KhalidHamdan0	Khalid Hamdan	Accenture	29.81
18	@tomemrich	Tom Emrich	Super Ventures	29.44
19	@MrAndrewMcLean	Andrew McLean	Compare the Cloud	29.35
20	@hyounpark	Hyoun Park	Blue Hill Research	29.29
21	@GlenGilmore	Glen Gilmore #SocBiz	Gilmore Business Network	29.2
22	@lesliefisher	Leslie Fisher	Fisher Technologies	29.11
23	@trevorjonesart	Trevor Jones	Creativtek	29.07
24	@ZGJR	R.Grossmann,MD, FACS	Singularity University/Exponential Medicine	29
25	@fianxu	Gaia	DAQRI	29
26	@rwang0	R Ray Wang (王瑞光)	Constellation R	28.99
27	@DanielBurrus	Daniel Burrus	Burrus Research	28.96
28	@VahabzadehMD	Arshya Vahabzadeh MD	Brain Power	28.91
29	@Jisc_AR	Matt Ramirez	Jisc	28.89
30	@2morrowknight	Sean Gardner	World Communication Forum	28.88
31	@franzrusso	Franz Russo	Franzrusso.it	28.86
32	@janlgordon	Curatti	Curatti	28.86
33	@Methone	Methone		28.83
34	@mrlaserbeam	Brian Mullins	DAQRI	28.82
35	@VIRTUALBRANDERS	Michael Prieto	Virtual Branders	28.81
36	@gmt71_01	Gianmarco Troia	Qwince	28.81
37	@JBarbosaPR	Jan Barbosa	Scientific Games	28.77
38	@alicebonasio	Alice Bonasio	Wired	28.75
39	@AUKenDog	Ken Martin	IBM	28.73
40	@SamPavin	Samuel Pavin	Samuel Pavin Group	28.72
41	@jose_garde	Jose Javier Garde	Freelance	28.7
42	@simonlporter	SimonPorter	IBM	28.69
43	@arjenvanberkum	Arjen van Berkum	Conclusion, TU Delft, Betula Services	28.65
44	@hwingo	hwingo		28.64
45	@JimMarous	Jim Marous	Digital Banking Report	28.64
46	@MaribelLopez	MaribelLopez	Lopez Research	28.63
47	@nickisnpdx	Nick Adkins	Faichi Solutions	28.63
48	@ThoHeller	Thorsten Heller	Greenbird Integration Technology	28.63
49	@PrateekJ16	Prateek Joshi	Adfactors PR	28.63
50	@APGuha	AP Guha	Tech Mahindra	28.63

 

TOP 100 BRANDS

We also looked at all the brands engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top brands talking about augmented reality. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the report to get the full top 100 list, and see who are most the influential brands in augmented reality.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@aurasma	Aurasma	100
2	@Vuforia	Vuforia	84.1
3	@blippar	Blippar	77.36
4	@heiseonline	heise online	69.23
5	@quivervision	QuiverVision	68.79
6	@SFVRCC	SFVRCC	49.26
7	@ARealityEvent	AWE 2016	47.16
8	@metaglasses	Meta	41.85
9	@singularityhub	Singularity Hub	40.63
10	@Vuzix	Vuzix	38.29
11	@super_ventures	Super Ventures	37.52
12	@theAREAorg	AREA	37.04
13	@PTC	PTC	34.78
14	@ZapparApp	Zappar	34
15	@VRFocus	VRFocus	31.45
16	@DAQRI	DAQRI	26.03
17	@BlipparEDU	Blippar Education	20.34
18	@thehaptical	Haptical	19.63
19	@3DPrint_com	3DPrint	19.25
20	@HoloBuilder	HoloBuilder	18.5
21	@searchCIO	SearchCIO.com	17.87
22	@theinformation	The Information	17.8
23	@AugmenteDev	Augment	17.11
24	@eschoolnews	eSchool News	15.02
25	@Layar	Layar	14.98
26	@isteconnects	ISTE	14.72
27	@Educ_Technology	Education Technology	14.06
28	@edgevisualCG	Edge Visual Studios	14.03
29	@TechAcuteCom	TechAcute.com	13.84
30	@NRconnected	NR	12.5
31	@Marxent	Marxent	11.97
32	@attdeveloper	AT&T Dev Program	10.09
33	@BrainXchange1	BrainXchange	10.04
34	@Inition	INITION	9.88
35	@iGreet_co	iGreet AR cards	9.73
36	@KnightsOfUnity	The Knights of Unity	9.3
37	@Holition	Holition	8.81
38	@Aireal	Aireal	8
39	@Empatheticmedia	Empathetic Media	7.48
40	@AdobeMktgCloud	Marketing Cloud	7.45
41	@__INDE__	INDE	7.03
42	@Avid	Avid	6.57
43	@BoschSI	Bosch SI	6.49
44	@PTC_Creo	PTC Creo	6.24
45	@AR_bulletin	Augmented Reality B.	6.17
46	@VirtualRealExt	Virtual Reality	6.16
47	@francecreative	CREATIVE & DIGITAL	6.01
48	@CODE_n	CODE_n	5.94
49	@Lifeliqe	Lifeliqe	5.74
50	@VR_Revolution	Virtual-Revolution	5.53

 

At Onalytica we love building these lists and want to give back to our loyal readers as much as we can. If you’re interested in other topics (such as Virtual Reality, Digital Health, Digital Marketing) be sure to have a gander on our blog or why not propose some topics to us on twitter? We also build some very cool software to manage all of these influencers. Get a free demo today by clicking the button below!

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Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking is by no means a definitive measurement of influence, as there is no such thing. The brands and individuals listed are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion around augmented reality.

The PageRank based methodology we use to extract influencers on a particular topic takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives. These calculations also take into account a user’s relevance (number of tweets on topic), reach (number of followers) and reference (how often they appear in Twitter lists). If you want to learn more, please read our article that outlines influencer identification.

Cover image created by Wikitude ©

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