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I’ve been asked a few times now who to follow on Twitter for Cocoa/iPhone development news and information. Sadly, I find follow suggestions to be like movie reviews. Very subjective. What I find useful may or may not be useful to you, and simply spouting off a list of names won’t give you the context of why I suggest following them. Therefore, when I recently got the question again I thought it would be useful to not just make a list, but to make a list with reasons for why I think they are good people to follow. You can then pick and choose.
A note to my friends/etc… if I forgot you or missed you on this list, or you’re mad for whatever reason because I did not include you… get over it. ;) This is a very specific list about a very specific topic, and I’m sure I left off a lot of awesome people. I apologize.
Coding:
@bbum Bill is a brilliant developer working at Apple. Hella smart. Regularly imparts that smartitude on sites like Stack Overflow. When he does, he’ll sometimes link to the especially good ones. The end result: A periodic burst of knowledge-flavor that’s really useful. His blog is also excellent. Also a foodie, and worth following just for that. ;)
@eschaton Like Bill, he works at Apple. Like Bill, he often imparts wisdom on Stack Overflow and his blog.
@chockenberry Ignore the CHOCKLOCK updates if they bother you, those are not the point. He’s worth following for the once or twice a week that he is amazingly insightful and helpful. Again, keep an eye on his blog, because that’s usually where the good stuff is. Follow him on twitter for additional commentary.
@mikeash Mac developer for Rogue Amoeba. Notable for his Friday Q&A series on his blog which is great stuff.
@jeff_lamarche Author of Beginning iPhone Development. His OpenGL series on his blog is excellent. All around great guy.
@wilshipley Developer of Delicious Library. Comments on the state of Apple and Xcode and development. Sometimes shares useful coding tips via his blog/etc.
@kickingbear OpenGL, Tap Tap Revenge, RadioShift. Smart dude.
Development Conferences:
@macdevnet Organizer of NSConference, host of the Mac Developer Network. Scotty works very hard to try to spread Mac coding info far and wide.
@rentzsch Organizer of C4 conference. Developer of ClickToFlash.
@360idev 360 iDev Conference.
Special note: Most of these make additional material from the conferences available online. So even if you don’t go to the conferences, following them can be useful for finding more resources online.
Development News:
@jurewitz Apple developer technologies evangelist. Often posts developer news items first.
@majicdave Developer of MajicRank. Useful to follow because he usually knows about App Store ranking algorithm changes before anyone else.
@kshepherd /@nattylux Husband/Wife team that developed HarborMaster and some other games. Primarily useful because they watch their ranking very closely, and are usually the first ones to tweet when something happens in the AppStore.
@drbarnard Same reason to follow as kshepherd/nattylux. Often first to tweet when something is “afoot”.
Commentary:
@gruber The host of Daring Fireball (@daringfireball). Insightful commentary on design, the mac, the iPhone, the industry, and rude gestures. If you don’t already subscribe to Daring Fireball, you should. And if you can’t get enough from just the blog, follow @gruber for just a little bit more. (Note: Unfollow during the world series ;))
Marketing and Design:
@taptaptap Developers of Convert, Voices, Classics, more hit apps than you can shake a stick at. Brilliant marketers. Excellent developers. Awesome designers. They’ve boiled “getting a hit on the app store” down to a science, and they’ve shared tips on that via their blog more than once. They have strong opinions and are not afraid to share them. What they do works for them, though, and it’s worth following them and learning from them. Whether you choose to emulate them is up to you.
@markjardine Designer for @tapbots. IMO, one of the most consistently great designers for the iPhone. Designed WeightBot, ConvertBot, PasteBot. Brilliant when it comes to branding an app transparently.
@danwood Old school Mac Developer. Been around forever. Notable for establishing the term “Sherlocked”. ;) These days, however, he’s been sharing marketing advice on his blog. Every one of his posts have been insightful and useful. Go read them. Then follow him. Do it now.
So that’s my list. There are many like it, but this one is my own. I bet there’s lots of other great Cocoa/iPhone people to follow. This is certainly not a comprehensive list. Feel free to post your own favorite people to follow in the comments below.