Social media accessibility
There are over 4 billion people in the world who use social media. One billion people in the world have a disability. While legislation is now in place to enforce website accessibility, social media shouldn’t be forgotten about.
Simple changes to the way you post on social media can make a huge difference for those with a disability. Here are some top tips on how to make your posts accessible.
Alternative text
Social media posts with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images. However, those using screen reading software or even users with a slow internet connection may have trouble understanding your post without a description. Provide alternative text which describes the image, which screen readers will read out.
If you use an image with text in, like an infographic, include the text in the post itself. The best way is by writing ‘Image description:’ at the end of your post alongside the text.
Some platforms provide alternative text for you, which can be replaced. Make sure you check these, as they are rarely good enough.
Video captions
Captions or subtitles display a text version of the words being spoken in a video. Captions don’t just benefit users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captions also benefit people watching a video in a noisy environment, on a quiet device, or in public without headphones. Make sure every video you post, including stories, has captions.
Instagram for Android captions
Audio descriptions
Audio descriptions explain what is happening in a video, so people with vision problems are able to understand it. Unfortunately, audio description tools aren’t as widely available as captioning tools and adding additional audio to a video isn’t always possible. Try to add a description of what is happening in the video in the post caption or a comment.
Flashing videos and images
Flashing images or videos can cause distress to users and can even be harmful for people with epilepsy. 20,000 people in the UK suffer from epilepsy and The Epilepsy Society has asked for social media companies to put warnings on flashing content or ban it altogether.
Gifs should only be used if they stop automatically after 5 seconds. They shouldn’t flash continuously, as this can trigger seizures.
Writing hashtags
Don’t put hashtags within your post text, put hashtags right at the end of your post. If you are using multiple words in a hashtag, they can be very difficult for some users to read. Use pascal case for each word in the hashtag to keep it clear. Pascal case is using a capital letter to begin each word.
#isthiseasiertoread or #IsThisEasierToRead?
Using emojis
Screen-reading software does read out emojis so using them is fine but it will read out everyone so keep them to a minimum. Here’s an example:
“I love my dog ❤️” would be read as “I love my dog heart”
Whereas:
“I love my dog ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ ” would be read as “I love my dog heart heart heart heart heart heart”
