Social Media Accessibility and Inclusivity

Accessibility and Inclusivity in Social Media
Division of University Marketing and Enrollment Planning
College of Charleston
Updated May 2021

Passionately committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, the College of Charleston is actively looking to create more inclusivity and belonging in our world.

Measured in 2016, about one in five post-secondary students had a disability (NECS, 2019)

Assistive Technology helps users with disabilities access content they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access.

We want to reach more users and improve the user experience.

Alternative Text/Image Descriptions (Alt Text) 

  1. Alternative text can be read by assistive technologies, which helps more of your audience access your content. 
  2. When writing alt text, ask “What is the content expressed by the image and this particular context?”
  3. Simple, brief and accurate language. The alt text can be as short as a few words to as long as two sentences.
  4. Do not need to use “image of” or “graphic of” in the wording
  5. Platforms
    1. Instagram
      1. Go to “Advanced Settings” when uploading an image and tap “Write Alt Text”
      2. You can edit alt-text on previously published photos. Click “edit” post and choose “edit alt-text” in the right bottom corner of the photo
    2. Facebook
      1. Facebook automatically assigns alternative text to photos, but you can easily edit the copy on your own
        1. Hit the “three dots” on the post in the upper right and select “change alt text”
    3. Twitter
      1. To insert Alt-Text to a photo click “Add Description”
    4. LinkedIn
      1. To insert Alt-Text to a photo click “Add Description” in the top right. LinkedIn may automatically add alt-text to images that don’t have it.
      2. Unfortunately, this is not available on mobile devices currently

Add captions to video content 

  1. Two Types:
    1. Open or Burned Captions: embedded or “burned” into the video
      1. Assistive technology cannot access burned captions
    2. Closed Captions: options for turning captions on or off for content
  2. Platforms
    1. Facebook
      1. Auto-captioning available in platform. Although this technology is relatively accurate, take time to review and correct any errors
      2. TIP: You can download a Facebook SRT file to upload to another platform or add to a video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Rush or iMovie
    2. YouTube
      1. Auto-captioning is available on YouTube, however, depending on the video it may take time to process the captions
      2. To review or make changes to your YouTube captions follow these instructions
      3. TIP: You can also download an SRT file from YouTube to upload to other platforms or add to video editing software
    3. Twitter
      1. On Twitter you need to upload an SRT file or burn in captions on content
    4. LinkedIn
      1. On LinkedIn you need to upload an SRT file or burn in captions on content
    5. Instagram
      1. Turn on “Auto-Generated Captions” in settings
      2. Instagram Feed
        1. Instagram does not currently offer closed-captions on in-feed video uploads. To include captions on video, you must burn the captions in the content.
      3. Instagram Stories
        1. Instagram is rolling out a new “captions” feature that will be found in the gif/stickers section, until then…
        2. Type out what the speaker is saying using the text feature
        3. Use a third-party app to caption and then upload to Stories
          1. Captions: Speak to the Camera
          2. Best Captions apps for Android
    6. IGTV
      1. Choose “Auto-Generated Captions” or burn captions in video
    7. TikTok
      1. Burn captions into video content
  3. Captioning Resources
    1. Rev.com - $1/minute, also offers multiple languages for additional cost)
    2. 3playmedia.com

CamelCase Hashtags

  1. Implementing CamelCase assists screen-readers and it will read the hashtags as each individual word instead of one long word
  2. Capitalize the first letter of each word
    1. YES - #HomeSweetCofC
    2. NO - #HOMESWEETCOFC

Avoid repurposing flyers on social media 

  1. E-readers and screen readers cannot read text on images
  2. Small font size and color combinations can be a barrier for those with vision impairments
  3. Detailed backgrounds and color combinations can make copy harder to read and cause visual clutter. Using high contrast branded colors (CofC templates in Canva) or highlighting text can make it easy for the user to read and understand content
    1. Contact Betsey Geier, geierbp@cofc.edu
  4. Platform algorithms are less likely to push content with heavy text

Inclusivity in language and imagry 

  1. Strategic Plan, Pillar 1 Strategy
    1. “Create a welcoming and inclusive environment where all students feel they belong.”
  2. Be authentic and considerate in imagery choice
    1. You want your audience to connect with your photo and envision themselves in our CofC culture
  3. Understand the history of a meme, gif and shared imagery. The original meaning may have a previous background or story that could be harmful and offensive.