I’ve been blown away by the tremendous discussions happening on the App Making Branch group. Our latest discussion brought out some of the best PR tips I’ve seen online, all answering the question: how do app makers befriend journalists?

The best part? We’ve heard from some of the top app journalists themselves. A few highlights:

Rene Richtie, Editor at iMore:

1. Make great apps.
2. Be human.

Ellis Hamburger, App Reporter at The Verge:

3. Be brief, be sincere, include screenshots. Screenshots speak louder than words, and they’re your best bet at getting me interested.
4. Ultimately, as sincere and wonderful as you may be, it’s difficult to earn coverage for a subpar app/thing. Don’t be a nag.
5. Even if you miss a couple journalists for one app launch, know that if you do great work, they’ll cover the next update or the next app.
6. Be a nice person along the way. We’re all into the same stuff, just be yourself!

Federico Viticci, Editor at MacStories:

1. Get my name right. I’m called “Federico”; not “Frederico”, “Federicco”, “Frederrico”, or any other weird variation.

2. Build a great app and tell me why it’s great in 2 sentences. If it’s a known concept, tell me why your app is different.

3. Know my tastes. I have over 6k articles on MacStories. You know I’m into iOS automation and that sort of stuff. If you have a URL scheme, **tell me about it**. Show me that you *want* my coverage, and that you’re not sending a copy & paste to everyone.

(he then goes on to list 17 more awesome points so be sure to check his answer out.)

David Barnard, founder of App Cubby:

There are some really cool people in this industry. If all you do is beg for coverage, you’re missing out on getting to know some great folks.

Marc Edwards, founder of Bjango:

• Be part of the community. Where possible, help others (karma, baby).
• Be prepared and take the time to write short, on-point messages. Don’t waste anyone’s time.
• If you expect someone to give you their time and attention, be prepared to give them your time and attention in return, should they ask.

I hope I’ve convinced you that you seriously need to check out the full discussion. There are so many gems to be found.

How to Befriend Journalists →

Also be sure to go to the App Making group and click the “watch” button to follow the discussions.

The guys at Bright Mango recently blogged about about how they marketed Wood Camera to the top of the App Store with a very limited budget using Instagram and without a major featuring from Apple. It just goes to show that there is more than one legitimate way to market a great app to the top of the store and you don’t necessarily need Apple to do it. Kudos to them for thinking outside the box!

(And for the record, they mention that theirs might have been the first camera app to reach the #1 spot but I’m pretty sure others have done so.)

UPDATE: I was specifically thinking that Camera+ had gotten to #1 but the folks at Bright Mango showed me data to the contrary so they may very well be the first camera app to hit #1.

Don Melton has been penning some fascinating stories about the early days developing Safari. In his latest post he talks about how he kept Safari a secret.

His main challenge? Server logs.

Back around 1990, some forward-thinking IT person secured for Apple an entire Class A network of IP addresses. That’s right, Apple has 16,777,216 static IP addresses. And because all of these addresses belong together — in what’s now called a “/8 block” — every one of them starts with the same number. In Apple’s case, the number is 17.

IP address 17.149.160.49? That’s Apple. 17.1.2.3? Yes, Apple. 17.18.19.20? Also, Apple…

I was so screwed.

To make a long story short, he successfully hacked his way through and preserved both Safari’s secrecy and his own head.

The cool thing is that Apple still owns and uses that block of IP addresses. So egotistical webmasters everywhere can see how many Apple employees have been reading their stuff or checking out their apps. All you have to do is check your logs (usually available through your web host’s panel interface) and search for IP addresses beginning with 17.

Don mentioned to me that there is one caveat: “often external CDNs serve up Apple content.” So it’s not always a sure thing but don’t let that stop you from letting a few 17s in your logs brighten your day and give a few loving strokes to that all important ego.

To my Apple employee readership, I’m sorry if this a bit creepy. We love you guys.