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New Facebook data analysis tool shows marketers what their customers are talking about

Facebook today unveiled Topic Data, a new tool designed to give its marketing partners more information about what their customers are talking about.

In a blog post, Facebook wrote that the tool lets advertisers see what their customers are saying about “events, brands, subjects, and activities.” The marketers can then ideally use that information to “make better decisions about how they market on Facebook and other channels, and build product roadmaps.” Facebook said it is rolling out Topic Data at first exclusively in the United States and the U.K. with DataSift, a data analysis company. “We want to make sure the information we provide is useful to marketers,” Facebook wrote, so we’re using DataSift’s technology to power the platforms that turn the data into insights.”

As examples of how Topic Data can help marketers, Facebook said that it could help a company that sells a hair de-frizzing product see the demographics of customers discussing how humidity affects their hair. Similarly, brands can measure brand sentiment by understanding what people are saying about their company or their industry. Facebook noted in its blog post that data like this has been available to advertisers in the past, but the sample size wasn’t big enough to help marketers fully understand what they’re seeing. But because Topic Data measures conversations on Facebook, “marketers get a holistic and actionable view of their audience for the first time.”

Facebook also said that the data gathered through Topic Data is kept private, and that “we’ve grouped data and stripped personal information from Facebook activity (not including Messenger).” The tool cannot be used to target ads at Facebook users directly.