This week, we talk emojis, new Twitter features and Volkswagen’s fuel flop.

South Africa vs Japan – #WhatAFail

South African rugby fans countrywide took to Twitter last weekend after the Springboks lost their first Rugby World Cup 2015 game to Japan. According to Social Media 101, rants about the disappointing game meant that for an entire hour (19:00 to 20:00) after the game, 44% of Twitter's sentiment was negative.

Hashtags that trended during the game were #RWC2015, #RSAvJPN, #RSA and #JPN. By far the best rugby-related hashtag was #WheresNaas. The legendary sports presenter disappeared from the SuperSport studio after the game and people wanted to know why.

Our favourite tweet:

#WheresNaas vanished from @SuperSportRugby studios. Gone for Sushi? Did he go to England to help? Does he need help? #WheresNaas - @Colinjhb

Who needs to press play anyway?

This week saw two major developments in the world of video capabilities on social media. Twitter introduced an Auto Play option, meaning users no longer need to hit ‘play’ in order for videos to start. Now they start automatically. Great news! Who wants to waste 0.00002 seconds of their life pressing play anyway?

This week also saw Facebook launching support for 360-degree videos. This pretty cool new function allows users to choose the angle they want to watch a video from. Of course, Facebook is not the first platform to debut this feature; YouTube beat them to it earlier this year.

Emojis everywhere

Thanks to a recent version update, you now have a few more emojis in your WhatsApp arsenal. Perhaps the most talked-about addition is the middle finger icon. And now Apple, being the copycats that they are (sorry iOS fans), are adding the middle finger emoji (and some others) to the 9.1 version of the operating system. Because emojis speak louder than words. #JustSaying.

Also on the emoji front: Coca-Cola has officially bought the first emoji on Twitter as a part of their #shareacoke drive. And the Pope now has four personalised emojis on Twitter, because … well … he’s the Pope.

Volkswagen faux pas

On Monday this week, #Volkswagen began trending as news broke that the US plant had been falsifying emissions tests. It was announced that 500 000 vehicles are going to be recalled as a result of the blunder. #Welldone #ouch 

#IAmStellenbosch

Today, the University of Stellenbosch launched an online campaigned aimed at unifying students following weeks of protests. Labelled #IAmStellenbosch, students are uploading photos of themselves holding a hand-written sign challenging stereotypes. Well, that was the plan anyway. The campaign has since be blasted for neglecting to deal with bigger issues.

Just read comedian Rob van Vuuren's contribution to the conversation: “I am white & I am so comfortable with my privilege that I am unable to discuss racism without feeling sorry for myself. #IamStellenbosch.”

This week we’re loving…

We are so happy to have discovered Matt Bellassai’s Facebook page. Once a week, the 25-year-old sits at his office desk, gets drunk and then goes on a rant about whatever is rubbing him up the wrong way at the time. The series is called Whine About It. You need to check this out!

Til next week ...