Favorite Social Media Sites for Video Surveillance

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapshot, Pinterest, Google+, etc.

150 integrator respondents answered:

What, if any, social media websites do you regularly visit for video surveillance information? Why?

The Results

There was a clear big three:

• None - nearly half of integrators do not use mainstream social media websites for video surveillance information
• IPVM - nearly half 'wrote in' IPVM in as a substitute for social media websites
• LinkedIn - approximately a third of respondents cited LinkedIn

Beyond that, there were few other selections, with 5-10% mentioning either Twitter or Facebook but with few strong statements.

None

None was quite common for integrators.

• "None - I find that social media doesn't often come with very many facts about anything anymore."
• "None. I wouldn't expect there to be much info there due to the small audience."
• "None do not do social media"
• "None. I choose not to be on social media."
• "None. Social Media is not a good source of unbiased information. Too Many Trolls, too much spam."
• "None currently. Time limited at the moment"
• "None, gave up on social media sites two years ago."
• "None. Why would I visit social media for technical information?"
• "None. I get enough junk product info without following social media too."

Of course, some may not visit any social media sites at all but it is most likely that the ones they go (e.g., Facebook) have limited posts on video surveillance. 

IPVM

IPVM does not consider ourselves social media at least in the traditional sense since social media is typical free and dominated by user generated content whereas IPVM is a paid membership service and generates ~60 new original reports per month.

That noted, IPVM does have ~3,000 new comments per month and more than 100,000 comments over the last 4 years, which gives IPVM more comments than all the security trade magazine websites combine by a factor of 10.

Quite a number of people considered IPVM as social media:

• "None, unless you consider IPVM somewhat is social."
• "None really, unless we're counting IPVM."
• "None really (Don't know if you consider ipvm a "social media" website....but ipvm primarily)"
• "Assuming the IPVM forums are not classed as a social media site social sites for video information I never use social for information in surveillance."
• "Zero, unless you count IPVM as a social media website"

Others offered IPVM unrequested as a substitute for social media:

• "IPVM, everything I need right here"
• "None, i only read news of cctv via ipvm""
• "I mostly take my info from IPVM, Do not like social media"
• "None. I don't like nor have time for that. I visit IPVM for all of my surveillance information"
• "None, no time and my own testing coupled with my IPVM membership gets me the info I need."
• "I do not use social media websites for video surveillance information. IPVM is my main web site for information"
• "I don't really spend a lot of time outside of IPVM's website. Not a lot of good info beyond you guys."
• "I consider IPVM blog meets this need and always a core discussion that has intelligent comments." 

Manufacturer Website

Interestingly, a number of respondents brought up manufacturer websites:

• "None but IPVM or directly from manufacturer"
• "None - go directly to Web sites of the vendors"
• "None, other than manufacturers websites I only check IPVM for video surveillance info."
• "I don't visit social media sites for video surveillance. I prefer websites such as IPVM and manufacture sites"
• "Actually, I don't. I go straight to manufacturer websites for specific information, or IPVM's website for general information."

LinkedIn

LinkedIn clearly beat all the other mainstream social networks, mostly for its news feed and ability for people to post their own posts:

• "I do read fresh news from Linkedin Pulse published regularly from manufactures, such as Axis and other companies within the industry"
• "I get LinkedIn notifications for certain companies"
• "Linkedin, since it is more professional then others"
• "LinkedIn. I can see posts from Manufacturers and other integrators"
• "LinkedIn can surprise you though. Sometimes an individual will post something unique and interesting, and sometimes you'll get a real insight."
• "Linked in, Sales Navigator - they help to align businesses with quality content relevant to my work."
• "LinkedIn - other professionals discussing the topics and posting blogs"
• "Linkedin. Easy to connect with reps and get information"
• "LinkedIn - a lot of my contacts post news releases for product, deployments etc"
• "LinkedIn. Only because I happen to see relevant content from connections from time to time."
• "Linkedin. Many of my industry contacts and companies I follow often post articles worth reading"
• "LinkedIn, have come across users that regularly post information on CCTV such as new product releases etc..."

A few years ago, LinkedIn groups were quite promising (IPVM even had its own) but the groups increasingly were dominated by spam unless heavy moderation was applied, which few were motivated to do. Only a few on the LinkedIn respondents mentioned groups:

• "I am a member of a couple LinkedIn groups that discuss video"
• "LinkedIn, I get email updates from groups that I am part of and people will ask questions or post information from integrators like myself."
• "Mostly LinkedIn groups for industry group discussions. Sometimes seeking answers but also curious of other questions being asked" 

Facebook and Twitter

Facebook and Twitter were distant thirds:

• "Facebook. There is an alarm page I follow that is good sometimes, but that's about it."
• "Facebook - there are a number of groups that are based around the security industry that include information, new products and the odd bad install picture."
• "I belong to a Facebook group called Burglar Alarms Online, it's an OK group. Some good information but most of the people in there are truck slammers. You can still learn a little from them."
• "Twitter is helpful for its direct-between-people approach. I've got a pretty well curated list of physec accounts that I tune in for, which is a mix of traditional MarCom accounts and real people who are more open in their communications."
• "Twitter catches news from surveillance companies that I follow or track."

The showing for Twitter was especially bad since just a few years ago Twitter was definitely significantly stronger. We have seen it in engagement and impressions compared to LinkedIn. While LinkedIn has grown substantially, Twitter is either flat or down. Indeed, we recommend and use LinkedIn advertising ourselves (see our guide).