Yes, you read it correctly: hashflags. They are a nifty new addition to Twitter for the duration of the World Cup 2014; when your tweet includes a hashtagged country code: eg #GER a little flag icon is generated.

In fact, Twitter has made quite the effort for soccer fans: the dedicated page provides match times and a scoreboard along the left-hand side with a Twitter index of all teams to the right and a timeline of related tweets in the middle.

If you’re a user of the Android or iOS apps you’ll have noticed they offer a “soccer edition” with a banner serving up-to-date information on matches. twitter.com/hashtag/WorldCup