Mike Rubini, an Italian developer focused on a portfolio of software-as-a-service offerings, recently announced the launch of a new Facebook tool, Groouply.

(Note: Groouply is not to be confused with the educational forum Grouply, the community management app Grouply, or the now-defunct company Grouply, which developed social networking and online forums for small businesses.)

Groouply lets you monitor Facebook groups for keywords of your choosing. Depending on how it works, this could be a big deal. There are plenty of online trackers. In fact, there are two or three distinct industries built on collecting and processing the vast amounts of information we generate online. SEO, social media management, and big data processing have all developed into large industries with their own dedicated firms, tools, language, and (in big data’s case) terrifyingly powerful hardware.

But so far, Facebook Groups haven’t been a point of focus. You can check search engine results pages, Reddit, Hacker News, Twitter, and public FB posts. But automatically notifying a user about specific mentions in FB groups is something new. The developer claims the tool can even collect data from closed groups.

The potential applications for this are striking. You could get a sense of who’s talking about your company, and what they’re saying. You could make course corrections based on how you’re perceived. You could learn about potential markets you hadn’t considered yet. You could step in to discussions about your company to correct misconceptions. (You could also get dragged into some pretty unprofessional arguments, if you aren’t careful. It is Facebook, after all.)

You pick a group and a keyword, as well as the frequency of your email updates. Options shown in the demo video include daily and hourly. Once you’ve set up the account, the company takes 1-3 days to set you up on the back end, and then you’re good to go. At the current pricing, a $99/month account lets you track 10 keywords across 5 different groups.

Some folks have raised concerns. People have inquired about how the tool collects the data, wondering whether it’s compliant with Facebook’s terms of service. Others have expressed hesitation over the price. Paying $99/month for online marketing tools isn’t unheard of. The popular SEO research tool ahrefs charges $99/month for their basic package, and claims that their $179/month package is their most popular option.

But ahrefs offers a week-long trial for $7 so you can test-drive the service. They’re also running a robust, proven service. Your $99/month gets you 500 tracked keywords, updating weekly. It also gets you keyword reports and batch analysis, backlinking alerts, and 10,000 pages’ worth of site audits.

Groouply’s arrival has generated some buzz. When it launched two days ago, it became the #4 Product of the Day on the tech forum Product Hunt. Depending on what happens next, it could fill a much-needed niche in the social media marketing toolbox.

As we prepare to enter a new year – and a new decade – we reflect on the year before, and take what we’ve learned to help us better ourselves in the new year. What we’ve learned comes in the form of life lessons, characteristics of ourselves, and data.

The latter can help us predict what trends will occur in the year to come, and such is the case with Pinterest as the lifestyle social media platform lists the top 100 trends for 2020 – all based on data involving user behavior.

According to the Pinterest newsroom, “When Pinners are looking for new ideas, they come to Pinterest first. It’s where they get inspiration, dream about new possibilities and plan for what matters most. And every time someone searches on Pinterest, they’re thinking about what they want to try next. Multiply that behavior by the more than 320 million people using Pinterest all over the world, and you get unique insight into emerging trends.”

The Pinterest 100 is a list – that comes with its own mini-site – covers ten categories, all selected via the stats on user behavior. Each category features its own ten trends, and the ten categories include:

1. Responsible Travel – Environmentally conscious travel tips
o Train travel
o Staycations
o Eco-friendly cities
o Eco-friendly travel
o Agritourism
o Learning vacations
o Eco-structures
o Travel stories
o Reduced Carbon Footprint

2. Internationally Inspired – Region-specific design and art inspiration
o Spanish bathrooms
o Indian living rooms
o French antiques
o Australian landscaping
o Japanese tubs
o Macedonian meals
o Filipino desserts
o Arabic treats
o West African recipes
o Kerala breakfast ideas

3. Beyond Binary – Products moving beyond gendered labels
o Gender-neutral names
o Unisex kid clothes
o Gender-neutral party ideas
o Every-kid playrooms
o Unisex nurseries
o Androgynous wedding wear
o Tuxedo dresses
o Gender-neutral haircut
o Inclusive educational posters
o Androgynous flags

4. Space Everything – Space travel and related themes
o Astrology-themed parties
o Two the moon parties
o Galaxy birthdays
o Constellation crafts
o STEM activities
o Galaxy painting
o NASA logos
o Constellation piercings
o Space tattoos
o Planet Makeup

5. Re-wilding – Outdoor adventure
o Lake fishing
o Rockhounding
o Rabbit hutches
o Nature travel
o Bushcraft camping
o Northern lights
o Outdoor bars
o Outdoor play areas
o Outdoor indoors
o Hiking fashion

6. Finding Balance – Self-care tips and products
o Self-discovery journal prompts
o Social media detox
o Embrace being single
o Chicory root
o Art therapy activities
o Sea moss
o Mood-booster playlists
o Ylang ylang oils
o Feng Shui décor
o Cucumber juice

7. Pampered Pets – Advanced pet care
o Pet resorts
o Dog patios
o Outdoor cat playgrounds
o Dog toilets
o Goat playhouses
o Protective halos for blind dog
o Pet fashion
o Cat birthdays
o Cakes for dogs
o Pet memorials

8. Home Hub – Home, and home office, improvement tips and devices
o Garden room
o Indoor microgreens
o WFH wear
o Granny pods
o Audio rooms
o Homebrewing
o Indoor water fountains
o Home theaters
o Coffee stations
o Homemade baby food

9. 90s Re-Run – 90s inspired fashion
o 90s cartoons
o Hip hop parties
o Grunge fashion
o 90s music
o Lip gloss and liner
o Hair clips
o Y2K outfits
o Braided hairstyles
o 90s streetwear
o Scrunchies

10. Conscious Consumption – Sustainable living tips and tools
o Protest posters
o Low-waste living
o Product swaps
o Thrifted home décor
o Ocean trash art
o Thrifted wedding dresses
o Solar light crafts
o Secondhand fashion
o Low-waste weddings
o Thrift store crafts

When I told my parents how much my partner and I would be paying for rent at our new apartment, they quickly pointed out that I could purchase a home for that kind of money in my hometown.

Indeed recently published a study where they determined which cities have the highest salaries after accounting for the cost of living, an adjusted salary. Every city on the list is a small or mid-sized metro area which is why they dubbed their findings, “the small-city advantage.” No surprise to me, my hometown made the list.

My parents are right, I could literally buy a home for the amount of money I pay in rent every month to live in a large metro area. But the equation that determines where I, and many other workers should live, is more complex than salary minus housing.

Indeed’s study also shows that bigger metros have faster job growth and lower unemployment compared to these small to mid-sized metros. This is why the number one city on their list, Brownsville-Harlingen, TX, also has a higher unemployment rate than the national average. Some of the other cities on the list are Fort Smith, AR-OK, Toledo, OH, Laredo, TX, and Rockford, IL.

These areas are cheaper to live in, in part, because they may not offer the kind of job opportunities, and therefore social mobility, you see in larger metro areas. Sure, I could make my money go further in my hometown, but the chances of me finding a job in my industry there are smaller.

Your field of work does matter when considering whether or not the “small-city advantage” could work for you. If you work in tech or finance, two traditionally high-paying fields, then this advantage doesn’t apply.

“Before adjusting for living costs, typical technology salaries are 27% higher in two-million-plus metros than metros with fewer than 250,000 people. Even after adjusting for those costs, tech salaries are still 5% higher in the largest metros than in the smallest ones,” finds Indeed.

If a huge tech company offering thousands of high-paying jobs moved into a city like Brownsville-Harlingen, TX, over time it would get more expensive to live there. This is why people were freaking out so much when Amazon was trying to decide where to locate HQ2. It’s the hamster wheel that is currently driving income inequality in some of America’s largest major metro areas.

Finding the right place to call home is never going to be a single factor decision. Yes, salary is a huge factor, as is the cost of living, but there are also lifestyle factors to consider. What kind of opportunities would you have in this city? How much will it cost to move there? How will this effect the other members of your household?

It’s nice to play the ‘ditch the corporate world and buy a country house’ fantasy after a long day at work, but the reality is far more complex.