Facebook have released their "Hot Topics" report for July, highlighting the most mentioned topics, and which demographic groups were discussing them, across both Facebook and Instagram.
The report provides some great insight for marketers and those looking to generate more engagement - and thus reach - with their Facebook posts. And given Facebook's latest algorithm update, sparking your readers into action can play a big part in how Facebook determines how many people will see your updates.
So what had Facebook users talking last month? Here's a chart of the major focus points (click to expand the images).
Independence Day - the actual event not the film - got the most attention amongst US users with a heap of discussion focused on the national holiday. Seasonal events always generate alot of attention, so while including it in the chart is relevant, it's not overly helpful - no doubt marketers are already aware of seasonal impact and have plans to tap into such discussions (or not) accordingly.
Michelle Obama generated a lot of support after her inspiring speech at the Democratic national convention, skewing more towards female users, while the explosion of Pokemon GO also generated a heap of Facebook posts among younger users.
NBA stars Tim Duncan (retired), Dwyane Wade (switched teams) and Kevin Durant (switched teams) were also big discussion points among younger male users, while female Facebookers had a big interest in ice cream sandwiches, evidently.
Over on Instagram the story bore some similarities.
Pokemon GO was huge amongst the Instagram crowd, which underlines the popularity of the platform amongst younger social media users (which will play an important part in the relative success of Instagram's new 'Stories' feature).
Christmas in July was given notably more focus on Instragram, likely due to the visual nature of the celebration, while Guns n' Roses, Coldplay and Ghostbusters were also popular among female users.
The Hot Topics listings provide some great insight into the wider trends and behaviors across the Facebook landscape. Maybe you know your target audience pretty well, but staying in touch with the trending conversations among them is a great way to ensure you're up to date and informed as to what they see as relevant and interesting.
As always, Facebook's also released Hot Topics reports for:
Always worth a read - check them out and cross match them against your audience persona database.