Social Media Accessibility How Tos
Social Media Accessibility
Below we have described some best accessibility practices for some of the most popular social media platforms. We recognize that there are limitations for how accessible your content can be depending on the platform. Some platforms are more accessible than others. Your job is to do the best you can within the confines of each platform.
General Guidelines
- Have your individual or group's contact information listed or linked to on your social media account page on each platform.
- Make your content available through multiple channels so that users can access your content on the platform that will give them the best experience.
- Keep it simple—avoid using more than three hashtags, abbreviations, or acronyms in your posts—the more straightforward the content the better for everyone.
Images and video
Starting in 2016, Twitter launched a tool in their iOS and Android apps that allows you to add up to 420 characters of alternative text (alt text) to images and videos in Tweets.
Links
- Make sure you are linking to accessible content. If you cannot find a suitable replacement for the content that is accessible, you should identify the accessibility barriers in your Tweet.
- Use a link shortener, like UD’s own uLink, if you are sharing a link that is long (as screen readers will read every character).
- If you are sharing links to images or videos, identify the type of content in your Tweet. For example: "#BlueHens share their experiences #StudyingAbroad in Russia this summer. [VIDEO] https://youtu.be/snpBGLqKH_4"
Text
- Avoid using unfamiliar acronyms that would sound strange if read by a screen reader. If you are using an acronym spell it out in the first instance.
- Use camel case for multiple words within a hashtag (e.g., use #UDel not #udel)
Facebook has a repository of information regarding accessibility on its website. We encourage everyone to browse through the information on the site to better understand the Facebook experience for users with disabilities. You can also follow Facebook’s own Accessibility page or their Twitter account (@fbaccess) for news, updates and other content.
To get you started we’ve captured some of the major points below.
Images
Facebook uses automatic alternative text (alt text) to provide a visual description of a photo through object recognition technology. You can replace this text and provide a better description by following these steps. This feature is not available through the Facebook app.
Video
Any video you create and share should be captioned. You can upload your videos to Youtube to allow for automatic closed captioning (don’t forget to review the captioning before posting!) and then share through Facebook.
Not uploading your video to YouTube? Here’s how to manually add captions to the videos you share on Facebook.
Text
- Avoid using unfamiliar acronyms that would sound strange if read by a screen reader. If you use an acronym, spell it out in the first instance, followed by the acronym in parenthesis. For example: Office of Communication and Marketing (OCM). Then, you can use the acronym OCM by itself as a reference throughout the remaining text. You should only put the acronym in parenthesis in the initial reference.
- Use camel case for multiple words within a hashtag (e.g., use #UDel not #udel).
YouTube
YouTube works well with many accessibility tools. Ensure your content reaches all of your audience by following these guidelines.
Video
- Any video you create and share should be captioned. YouTube offers automatic video captioning for videos less than 10 minutes long. Automatic captioning is helpful but you should edit the file YouTube creates to ensure the accuracy of the content (this is especially true with videos that use technical language).
- Good captions are not just a transcript of what is said in the video. It is also important to describe sounds, particularly sounds for which there is no visual equivalent (e.g., off-screen noises like laughter from a crowd). Tone of voice is also important to note (e.g., jokingly, exclamation, sarcasm). It is helpful to describe the background music as well as that can change how the textual information is received.
- Provide a link to a full transcript of the video in the caption of your video.
Caption and transcript text
- Avoid using unfamiliar acronyms that would sound strange if read by a screen reader. If you use an acronym, spell it out in the first instance.
- Use camel case for multiple words within a hashtag (e.g., use #UDel not #udel).
Instagram works with several accessibility tools and has several features enabled for those using assistive technology—below lists a few ways you can support those features through your content.
Check out this video to see how Tommy Edison uses Instagram with a visual impairment.
Images and video
- Instagram does not have alternative text (alt text). You will need to provide a description of the images and videos you post in the text field.
- Because there is no option for alt text on Instagram, your caption needs to provide a description of the image or video you are sharing. You can add more text below your standard caption if the image or video needs to be described in more detail.
Snapchat
Snapchat has limited accessibility features but there are ways to make your content as accessible as possible on this platform.
Video
- Make sure your Snap Stories make sense from beginning to end.
- You can make your Snap Story videos completely accessible by uploading them to YouTube and captioning them here. Make sure you share that content through your regular channels as well.
Images and overlaying text
- Use larger text options.
- Choose text colors that are easy to read against your background image.
- Use camel case for multiple words within a hashtag (e.g., use #UDel not #udel).