Facebook has released a new, 33-page report which identifies key trends that have seen significant increases in discussion volume in 2018, and look set to become more significant focal points in the next year.

The '2019 Topics and Trends' report uses the same research methodology as Facebook's monthly “Topics to Watch” and “Hot Topics” reports, in which Facebook's researchers highlight topics of conversation that have seen consistent growth and engagement.

"When researching the validity of these findings, we uncovered other rising conversations that supported these connections, indicating larger trends emerging in culture. Our findings are backed by Facebook IQ audience and vertical studies and third-party research."

The full report is free to access, and is definitely worth a look, providing a range of insights and data trends which may help guide your digital marketing approach.

The data is separated into seven categories - 'Beauty & Fashion', 'Commerce', 'Entertainment', 'Food & Drink', 'Mind & Body', 'Science & Technology' and 'Travel & Leisure'. Each has it's own specific insights and trend charts, providing an overview of the key shifts.

One of the added benefits in the new report is that Facebook shows data from the conversations trends over the past two years, so you can get a better idea of how each has evolved - you can see this in the trend graphs to the right. 

It's interesting to see the gradual evolution of each, and to compare the latest rise in conversation volume to historic trends.

And speaking of historic, if you want to get a better idea of how good Facebook's predictions might be, you can also check out the 2018 version of the same report, in which Facebook's researchers identified some key trends of note that did, in fact, see significant rises this year.

There's a heap of interesting, industry-specific trend info in the report, and it's definitely worth a look. The trends identified might just help you hone in on some key elements to help guide your 2019 planning and approach. 

You can download Facebook's full '2019 Topics and Trends Report' here.