This year's World Cup will be play out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as it progresses in Brazil

On Tuesday, the world's biggest online social network is adding new features to help fans follow the World Cup - the world's most widely viewed sporting event - which takes place in Brazil from June 12 to July 13.

Facebook users will be able to keep track of their favourite teams and players throughout the tournament in a special World Cup section, called “Trending World Cup.”

Available on the Web as well as mobile devices, the hub will include the latest scores, game highlights as well as a feed with tournament-related posts from friends, players and teams.

In addition, an interactive map will show where the fans of top players are located around the world. 

Facebook has recently focused on making its mobile app usable on simple phones that use slower data speeds since many of its newest users are in developing countries.

As a result, Rebecca Van Dyck, head of consumer marketing at Facebook, said the World Cup hub will also be available on so-called “feature phones.” Facebook, earlier this year, began displaying trending topics to show users the most popular topics at any given moment. The feature is currently available in the US, UK, India, Canada and Australia.

“This is our first foray into this, especially for a big sporting event like this,” Van Dyck said. 

Not to be outdone, Twitter touted in a blog post last week that the “the only real-time #WorldCup global viewing party will be on Twitter, where you can track all 64 matches, experience every goal and love every second, both on and off the pitch.”

Fans can follow individual teams or players and use the hashtags #WorldCup to tweet about the matches, and follow official accounts such as (at)FIFAWorldCup, (at)ussoccer for the United States team and (at)CBF-Futebol for Brazil's soccer governing body, for example. Clicking on the #WorldCup or #WorldCup2014 hashtags, meanwhile, will take you to Twitter's hubs for the event. 

You can see more on  http://www.iol.co.za/business/companies/facebook-twitter-brace-for-world-cup-1.1701778#.U5iips5ZVNs