To cap off the year, and perhaps to provide marketers with some free material to launch new ad campaigns and boost revenue, Facebook just released its top trending topics for the year, broken down by country and presented with a slideshow of colorful bar graphs.

For the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, the top ten trending topics were:

1.  The Presidential Election
2.  Superbowl XXXXVI
3.  The Death of Whitney Houston
4.  Superstorm Sandy
5.  The 2012 Olympics
6.  The Death of Trayvon Martin
7.  Facebook Going Public
8.  The Aurora Colorado Theatre Massacre
9.  The Death of Dick Clark
10. Obama’s Endorsement of Gay Marriage

The list of trending topics varied significantly by country. In England, by far and away the most popular topic was the 2012 London Olympics. In Australia, the top trender was the novel “50 Shades of Gray,” and no, we are not prepared to comment or explain why.

In addition, Facebook also created a “Year in Review” page that allows you to see the most interesting topics, most important photos, and greatest life events on YOUR timeline from 2012.

Is any of this data usable? Not really. None of the graphs include insights, percentages or totals, and there is no way to discern a pattern. For example, the fact that the presidential election was the top trending topic in the U.S. this year is not new information, nor does it necessarily shed light on what political topics will trend in 2013. The data for foreign countries is also presented without proper English translation or explanation, so unless you or your company already specializes in Indian markets, the Indian page of trending topics is almost worthless.

Still, the data is worth a quick look, especially as the graphs artistically presented. Perhaps in 2013, Facebook will provide more useful data for businesses.