The latest release from Facebook may be of interest to those involved in social marketing. Facebook have released a new feature called Facebook Lexicon which is similar to Google Trends.
Facebook Lexicon lets you see which words and phrases on popular on Facebook Walls. You are able to compare up to five different words or two-word phrases. The results are made available in the form of graph. Unfortunately you cannot get any deep data such as graphical or demographics, only a simple graphical representation.
Where it will interest social marketing efforts is that you will be able to identify what is ‘hot’ and whether or not your particular area of interest is popular. You may also be able to gauge whether or not you are having any influence when trying to increase the buzz around a particular keyword.
It will be interesting to see whether or not it does have an impact on social marketing strategies. Information like this can be very handy when planning strategies. By checking with the Facebook Lexicon you may find that where you have been using a word or phrase, just a slight alteration could bring it closer to the limelight giving your marketing activities a gentle push.
Facebook have more innovations in the pipeline so perhaps they are starting to ‘grow up’ and become more focused on what users want. Gone are the days when you can tell users what they can have – you either provide what they want, or they move elsewhere.
