As we discussed in What’s new pussycat? Google offers the ability to track trends by reviewing what’s getting searched for. While this can be interesting, it doesn’t really represent what people are actually talking about. For example, while the Presidential race is on everyone’s lips, not everyone is sitting around conducting web searches on the well-known candidates (well, maybe in PA this week).

While 2001’s Hal is still the best lip reader, Facebook’s Lexicon gives you a new vehicle for tracking trends. It works in very much the same way as Google’s trend reading tool, but instead of looking at searches, it counts the number of occurrences of every term across profiles, groups and event Walls every day. All you have to do is put in two terms separated by comma and you’ll get an instant read on who’s winning the buzz war.

Wondering how your brand is resonating with Facebook users? Here’s a good way to find out (oh, and it’s free, of course).