Influencer marketing and virtual reality can go hand in hand. After all, thanks to virtual reality, consumers have a real chance to try things out in real time, before they commit to buying, or before they even commit to seeing the item IRL. While people might not be adopting VR as quickly as they have other technologies (like the smartphone and tablet), there are a few who have jumped on the VR bandwagon and are happily leading the way. Get to know some of the top VR influencers out there today.
24 Top VR Influencers
Ryan Bell
Ryan Bell’s Twitter profile calls him the “beat poet of tech.” He has 49,800 followers, works as a media strategist for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs, and has carved a niche for himself in the digital storytelling and VR world. He’s also one of the founders of VR Scout, making him one of our top VR influencers.
Karissa Bell
Karissa Bell is a top VR influencer and a reporter for Mashable.com with 11,100 followers. The topics she covers are apps and social media, including VR apps.
Benjamin Lang
Benjamin Lang has 15,000 followers on Twitter, where he regularly tweets about what’s going on with VR and new VR-related products. As one of the top VR influencers, he’s also the co-founder of Road to VR, a blog and website devoted to the consumer VR industry.
Bruce Wooden
Bruce Wooden, aka Cymatic Bruce, is the co-founder of Altspace VR, Inc., a VR social media platform. The top VR influencer is also a strategy consultant for Veative Labs, and an all-around VR evangelist. He has 11,600 followers.
Ian Hamilton
Ian Hamilton is a journalist with an interest in and passion for VR. He’s one of the top VR influencers, a contributor to UploadVR, and has just over 7,000 followers on Twitter.
Tony Parisi
Tony Parisi calls himself a virtual reality OG. The top VR influencer is an angel investor and serial entrepreneur, as well as a published author. He has more than 8,000 followers.
Tipatat
Tipatat has 14,000 Twitter followers, and is an investor in and mentor for VR companies. He’s one of the top VR influencers and a general partner at the VR Fund, a venture capital firm devoted to VR projects. If you want to know what VR investors are looking for, he’s the guy to ask.
Rob Crasco
Rob Crasco is a VR evangelist and one of the top VR influencers with 23,500 followers on Twitter. He also has a YouTube channel dedicated to all things VR: Virtually Everything.
Kent Bye
Kent Bye hosts the VR podcast Voices of VR. He’s also the founder of a VR Meetup in Portland, and is currently at work on a book about VR. The top VR influencer has 15,700 Twitter followers.
Sanem Avcil
Sanem Avcil is the founder of a VR game company, and a top VR influencer who keeps her 139,000 Twitter followers up-to-date on what’s going on in the virtual reality and augmented reality worlds.
Rick King
Rick King is a game developer who’s in VR, mixed reality and augmented reality. As one of the top VR influencers, he has 265,000 followers on Twitter, and often tweets a mixture of VR news and political posts.
Sam Watts
Sam Watts is the director of immersive tech at MakeRealVR. Based in the UK, he’s also a game developer who recently launched Loco Dojo, a multi-player VR party game. As a top VR influencer, he has 6,407 followers.
Jason Rubin
Jason Rubin created popular video games like “Crash Bandicoot,” and a series of comics. He’s now the VP of content for Oculus, and a top VR influencer with 18,500 followers on Twitter.
Malia Probst
Malia Probst is a partner at VR Scout, and the host of the Real Virtual Show. As one of the top VR influencers, she regularly publishes news about VR on Medium, and has more than 10,000 Twitter followers.
Eva Hoerst
Eva Hoerst looks at the ethics behind VR, and is an advocate for psychology in emerging technologies. The top VR influencer works with companies such as We Make Realities and VR World Society. She’s also a part of the WXR Venture Fund, which supports women-led startups in VR and emerging tech. She has over 10,000 Twitter followers.
Hugo Barra
Hugo Barra is the VP of VR for Facebook and Oculus. He joined FB in January of 2017 to lead Team Oculus there. As one of the top VR influencers, he has 121,000 followers on Twitter.
Palmer Luckey
Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus VR, and now heads up a new VR company. He’s a top VR influencer with 60,600 Twitter followers.
Chet Faliszek
Chet Faliszek is a top VR influencer and game developer and writer who’s recently begun working with BossaStudios, a London-based game company. He has 19,400 Twitter followers, and regularly tweets about the goings-on in the VR and gaming worlds.
Clay Bavor
Clay Bavor’s day job is being the VP of visual and augmented reality at Google. His other projects include making a portrait of Lincoln out of pennies and creating software that can predict attributes of the human face. He’s certainly one of the top VR influencers, with 21,700 followers on Twitter.
John Westra
John Westra is the “virtual innovation officer” for Vuturus, a VR and AR solutions services company. The top VR influencer has 2,272 followers on Twitter, and often tweets about the new things VR can do.
Joe Durbin
Joe Durbin is a writer who focuses on VR. He used to write for UploadVR, but is now writing for Dome9 Security. As one of the top VR influencers, he has 1,765 Twitter followers.
Josh Farkas
Josh Farkas is at work on a VR relaxation app for Oculus, and is the CEO of Cubicle Ninjas. The top VR influencer has 6,677 followers.
John Carmack
John Carmack is another top VR influencer with a connection to Oculus — he’s the CTO of the company. 839,000 people follow him on Twitter.
Jeremy Dalton
Jeremy Dalton is a top VR influencer and evangelist and a lead at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the UK, where he occasionally delivers talks on VR topics. He has 9,605 Twitter followers.