Virtual Reality 2016: Top 100 Influencers and Brands

Virtual reality is a computer-generated, immersive reality that provides a user with an artificial sensory experience. Virtual reality can help replicate an environment through the use of specific hardware and software, these environments can be real, such as a shop floor, warehouse or combat zone, or completely imaginary like in video games. Virtual reality has applications in education, health, entertainment, sports, science, telecommunications, military and film, and it is for that very reason the virtual reality industry is growing at such a fast pace. According to Statista, revenues from virtual reality products and software are expected to spike from just $90 million in 2014 to $5.2 billion in 2018:

VR technology has evolved dramatically in recent years, companies like Samsung, Sony, Google and Oculus and HTC are now all names associated with VR for gaming, social and mobile platforms. As with most new technology the devices are still quite expensive, so in order to give them mass appeal they would need to become more affordable. In the coming months we will see how the new tech fares with public opinion.

WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING?

We reached out to some of the top 20 influencers to ask them for their views on Virtual Reality. We spoke to Daniel Corey (#2), Rob Crasco (#5), Sanem Avcil (#10), Eva Hoerth (#11), Bob O’Donnell (#14) and Brennan Spiegel (#15). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on the best content and resources on Virtual Reality.

Daniel Corey – Author of MORIARTY & RED CITY for ImageComics, owner at DangerKatt

“My company, DangerKatt, focuses primarily on creating graphic novels and developing their transmedia potential. Virtual Reality is opening up an entirely fresh avenue of ideation, where we can create storyworlds in traditional media and then use VR to immerse ourselves in those worlds. Whether you’re playing a VR game based on one of our books, or actually walking through the pages of a storytelling experience, VR is giving us revolutionary and unique ways to showcase and expand our properties.”

Rob Crasco AKA “RoblemVR” Co-Owner/Content Developer at Cyber Adept

“Virtual reality is going to change the way that we experience the world. Don’t think of it in terms of applications or games but in terms of experiences. You are going to have relationships with people that you have only ever met in VR. You will be able to relive captured experiences, like your wedding or your child’s birthday as if you were there again. You will experience real destinations around the world, from the past, or ones that are pure fantasy. I’ve laughed at live standup comedy and ran across the face of Mars with groups of people from around the world, without actually leaving my home. These experiences and others I have had in VR are as important and “real” as any other memory. We are just at the beginning of the experiential age and it’s going to be amazing.”

Onalytica - Virtual Reality Top 100 Influencers and Brands - Sanem Avcil

Sanem Avcil – Founder at Founder Politehelp

“Jaw dragging experiences will soon be coming in virtual reality. Virtual reality suits will allow you to basically walk around in the game world and the real world. There will be suits that enable you to feel the environment with haptic technology. These suits will be comfortable garments consisting of a jacket, pants, gloves, and boots. You will feel your senses in the these environments. Gamers will be thin and muscular in the near future.”

Eva Hoerth – Virtual Reality Design Researcher | Community Builder at Ratlab
“We are riding the wave of a new medium–that doesn’t happen very often! Every day we witness the transformation of “VRgins” to VR enthusiasts and creators, and that’s pretty damn incredible. As for the future of VR, who knows what it holds! There are so many possibilities that have yet to be explored. I wouldn’t say that VR is going to replace existing platforms, but will rather strengthen industries such as health and education that can greatly benefit from the embodied experiences that VR provides. It’s not hard to get excited about VR hardware, but the tech is going to change very quickly. So rather than trying to adapt a design to a particular type of headset, it’s more valuable to think experience first and stop to ask ourselves why we are choosing to build for VR versus other platforms? Alongside that, in order to generate a diversity of VR content, we need diverse content creators. Anyone from any gender, background, or level of expertise needs to be welcomed. I am working to bring more women into the VR/AR space and there’s already been an incredible amount of support for this initiative. The resurgence of VR is generating a ton of excitement among people from all sorts of backgrounds, and I see this as a great moment in time to embed diversity into this industry!”

Bob O’Donnell – President and Chief Analyst at TECHnalysis Research

“Virtual reality and augmented reality are bringing a much needed boost in excitement back to the devices and key semiconductor markets. The opportunities it enables now and, more importantly, the path towards which it is headed offers new opportunities and new experiences for consumers all over the world. There are still some tough hurdles to overcome, but it’s the kind of technology that creates a level of enthusiasm that we haven’t seen in some time.”

Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS – Director, Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Health System

“Virtual reality is like dreaming with your eyes open. As a healthcare provider, I view VR as a compelling technology that opens our imagination to a new class of therapeutic interventions. At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, we have seen first hand how VR can meaningfully reduce pain scores without any medication or drugs. We’ve seen patients “escape” the four walls of their hospital room which, to some, can feel more like a bio-psycho-social jail cell than a place of healing. VR can temporarily transform the hospital into fantastical and healing environments. I’ve watched as patients and their families cry tears of joy during the VR experience. Yet, there is still tremendous work ahead. Not all of our patients want to use VR, and others need highly tailored experiences that support rather than threaten their sense of self at a vulnerable time. Our research team is actively working to solve these problems and bring VR to patients who need it the most.”

TOPIC ANALYSIS

We were interested in seeing which topics were most popular among the top virtual reality influencers, so we analysed their tweets and blogs from 1st January – 11th May 2016 and counted mentions of various topics associated with virtual reality which we then used to create a topic share of voice chart:

It’s interesting to note that the most popular topic among the virtual reality influencers was Oculus Rift with a 22% share of voice, proving that Oculus is leading the discussion and driving the most conversations among the top influencers. Augmented Reality was the 2nd most popular debate driver, followed by mentions of HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR which both received a significant 12% and 9% share of voice respectively. Other frequently mentioned topics among the top influencers included 3D, Gaming, Android, Camera and Headset which all received a similar share of voice (ranging from 5-7%), followed by mentions of Playstation and Hololens with 4%. Google Cardboard came in at 2% while Xbox received 2% share share of voice among the top virtual reality influencers and brands.

MAPPING THE COMMUNITY

We were very interested in seeing which virtual reality professionals and brands were leading the online discussion, so we analysed 797K+ tweets from March 8th – April 7th 2016 mentioning the keywords: #VR OR “Virtual Reality” OR virtualreality. 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 the number 1 brand Oculus 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.

#VirtualReality: Top 100 Influencers and Brands

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Below you can see another network map created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM) showing the #2 brand HTC Vive the centre, and the conversations to and from the different influencers in their field. If you are interested in learning more about identifying, managing and engaging with influencers click here to get in touch!

TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top influencers in virtual reality. This list is a rich mix of tech journalists, developers, enthusiasts, authors, keynote speakers and also interestingly some digital health influencers. 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	@RickKing16	Rick King	Consultant	100
2	@DangerKatt	Daniel Corey	DangerKatt	39.38
3	@PalmerLuckey	Palmer Luckey	Oculus	27.93
4	@mano1creative	Manuel Clément	Google	26.36
5	@RoblemVR	Roblem VR	Cyber Adept	20.5
6	@OMGitsfirefoxx	OMGitsfirefoxx	Freelance Vlogger	18.45
7	@Roy_techhwood	Roy Taylor	AMD	16.49
8	@Lucas_Matney	Lucas Matney	TechCrunch	15.21
9	@tipatat	tipatat@GDC	The VR Fund	13.1
10	@Sanemavcil	Sanem Avcil	PoliteHelp	13.09
11	@downtohoerth	Eva Hoerth	Ratlab	12.57
12	@wrobel221	Michał VRóblewski	Setapp	11.97
13	@bobodtech	Bob O’Donnell	TECHnalysis	10.78
14	@BrennanSpiegel	Brennan Spiegel, MD	Cedars-Sinai	10.25
15	@JoachimHolmer	Joachim Holmér	Neat Corporation	10.04
16	@TheMalia	Malia Probst	The Real Virtual Show	9.4
17	@ID_AA_Carmack	John Carmack	Oculus	8.49
18	@JoshRaabPhoto	Josh Raab	Time	8.31
19	@BenKuchera	Ben Kuchera	Polygon	7.41
20	@HilmarVeigar	Hilmar Veigar	CCP Games	7.34
21	@zeeohmara	Xiomara Blanco	CNET	7.14
22	@jenndefer	Jenn Duong	1215creative	6.62
23	@SusanWojcicki	Susan Wojcicki	YouTube	6.53
24	@killyourfm	Virtual Jason	Forbes, UploadVR	6.52
25	@JessConditt	Jessica L. Conditt	Engadget	6.48
26	@tomemrich	Tom Emrich	tomemrich.com	6.14
27	@alexbdavies	Alex Davies	Tom’s Hardware	6.08
28	@pug	Ef Rodriguez	HTC	6.04
29	@bigpotplant	Epic VR Channel	Epic VR Channel	6.01
30	@activrightbrain	Dean Johnson	Brandwidth	5.78
31	@shen	Shen Ye	HTC	5.55
32	@rachelmetz	Rachel Metz	MIT Technology Review	5.47
33	@jtoeman	Jeremy Toeman	CNET	5.39
34	@deantak	Dean Takahashi	GamesBeat	5.12
35	@jetscott	Scott Stein	CNET	4.7
36	@AlexJamesFitz	Alex Fitzpatrick	Time	4.69
37	@kentbye	KentBye Voices of VR	Voices of VR Podcast	4.67
38	@GTechBobby	Bobby Lombardi	G-Technology	4.63
39	@ShafiAhmed5	Shafi Ahmed	Medical Realities	4.57
40	@StarFire2258	Sean Hollister	CNET	4.51
41	@jamesbrunk	James Brunk	Vectorform	4.51
42	@MargaretWallace	Margaret Wallace ♕	Playmatics	4.5
43	@jonwiley	Jon Wiley	Google	4.5
44	@JenWilliamsEdu	Jennifer Williams	Saint Leo University	4.37
45	@joeludwig	Joe Ludwig	Valve	4.07
46	@MikeWehner	Myke	The Daily Dot	3.96
47	@GreeterDan	Daniel Terdiman	Fast Company	3.96
48	@hthth	Hrafn Thórisson	Aldin Dynamics	3.86
49	@kertgartner	Kert Gartner	kertgartner.com	3.57
50	@AntonHand	Anton Hand	RUST	3.47

TOP 100 BRANDS

In the top 100 brands we can find a great selection of big VR vendors such as Oculus and HTCVive, as well as some cool new startups, tech publications and industry resources. It’s interesting to note the high amount of gaming blogs and brands that appear on the list illustrating the excitement for VR in the gaming sector. Be sure to download the full analysis for free to get an idea of who are most influential virtual reality brands.

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@oculus	Oculus	96.19
2	@htcvive	HTC Vive	63.75
3	@TechCrunch	TechCrunch	52.54
4	@TIME	TIME.com	43.92
5	@nvidia	NVIDIA	41.77
6	@GoogleUK	Google UK	39.81
7	@UploadVR	Upload	39.32
8	@verge	The Verge	35.52
9	@EVEValkyrie	EVE: Valkyrie	34.1
10	@runjewels	Run The Jewels	30.14
11	@Recode	Re/code	28.17
12	@VRFocus	VRFocus	28.06
13	@VentureBeat	VentureBeat	22.62
14	@engadget	Engadget	22.36
15	@REWINDco	REWIND	21.54
16	@unity3d	Unity Technologies	19.73
17	@SamsungMobileUS	Samsung Mobile US	18.67
18	@AldinDynamics	Aldin Dynamics	18.49
19	@Inc	Inc.	17.88
20	@thetestpit	The Test Pit	16.98
21	@AltspaceVR	AltspaceVR	16.39
22	@Polygon	Polygon	16.05
23	@projectcarsgame	Project CARS	15.99
24	@Coatsink	Coatsink Software	15.62
25	@OwlchemyLabs	Owlchemy Labs	14.56
26	@NVIDIAGeForce	NVIDIA GeForce	14.46
27	@htc	HTC	13.88
28	@esa	ESA	13.18
29	@CloudheadGames	Cloudhead Games	12.39
30	@CNET	CNET	12.38
31	@campfireunion	The Campfire Union	12.31
32	@VRScout	VRScout	11.74
33	@Techland	Techland	11.47
34	@ARVRNews	AR/VR News	11.12
35	@google	Google	11.08
36	@knightfdn	Knight Foundation	10.98
37	@LiveScience	Live Science	10.86
38	@googlecardboard	Google Cardboard	10.85
39	@RtoVR	Road to VR	10.66
40	@AMD	AMD	10.53
41	@ViewMaster	View-Master	10.41
42	@Dell	Dell	10.33
43	@metaglasses	Meta	10.28
44	@DigitalTrends	Digital Trends	10.16
45	@TimelooperApp	Timelooper	9.1
46	@blippar	Blippar	8.69
47	@PlayStationUK	PlayStation UK	8.03
48	@slashgear	SlashGear	7.76
49	@Sony	Sony	7.76
50	@LeapMotion	LeapMotion	7.62

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 Machine to Machine, Wearable Tech, Internet of Things) 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 in the Virtual Reality debate.

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 are independent of a user’s number of followers, but we do filter our lists based on how much a user is engaged in the conversation and the influence they drive through their networks.

Vector Graphics from: Vecteezy