Social Media Accessibility

Overview SocialMediaaccessibilityislimitedinmanyways,butissuesaccessingandunderstandinginformationarepresentforthosewithdisabilities.Therefore,itisimperativethatwemakesocialmediacontentasaccessibleaspossible.ThefollowingsectionsoutlineaccessibilityfeaturesineachsocialmediaplatformwithafocusonImages,Hyperlinks,Hashtags,andVideos.

Asageneralruleforallsocialmediacontent,pleaseremembertoensurethatgraphicsandimagesincludeadequatedescriptions,videosarecaptioned,andhyperlinksincludedescriptivetext.Alsostrivetouseplainlanguagebyavoidingjargonandacronyms.Additionally,limittheuseofEmojisandemoticonsusingcharacters/textbecausetheyarereadliterallybyascreenreaderandthereforecauseconfusion.

Twitter Best Practices Images

• YoumustturnontheAlt-TextfeatureinSettings.• NavigatetoProfile>SettingsandPrivacy>Accessibility>turnonComposeImage

Descriptions.BesuretoSavethesettingchange.• UploadaphototoyourTweetandclick“AddaDescription.”Apop-upboxwitha

descriptionfieldwillopen.AddsuccinctbutdescriptiveAlt-Textandclick“Apply.”

• • ReturntotheComposenewTweetscreentoaddanyadditionalinformationtoyour

Tweetandclick“Tweet.”ThisisavailableonMobileandDesktopversionsofTwitter.Hyperlinks

• • Whentweetingahyperlink,indicatewhetheryouarelinkingto[VIDEO],[AUDIO],or

[IMAGE]asseenintheexamplebelow.• AlthoughTwitterhasabuilt-in,defaultURLshortener,itisrecommendedthatyouuse

anotherservicesuchasbit.lyorTinyURLthatallowyoutocustomizeyourlinkdescriptions.Remembertousedescriptivehyperlinktextforthoseusingscreenreaders.

Hashtags • Putmentionsandhashtagsattheendofyourtweets.• Usecamelbackhashtagswherethefirstletterofeachwordinthehashtagiscapitalized.

Acamelbackhashtagcapitalizesthefirstletterofeachwordinahashtag.Notethedifferencebetween#screenreaderdemoand#ScreenReaderDemo).

Video • Makesureanylinkedoraddedvideoiscaptioned.• PREFERRED:UploadtoYouTubefirstandaddcaptionsifthevideoisnotalready

captioned.IfyouneedassistancewithYouTubecaptions,pleasecontactaccessibility@olemiss.eduorrefertoYouTube’sinstructionsforgeneratingcaptionsandYouTube’sinstructionsforeditingcaptions.

Facebook Best Practices Images

• Facebookhasanautomaticalt-textgeneratorforimagesthatareuploadedtoFacebook,howeveritisbestpracticetooverridetheautomatictextwithaccurateandmorehelpfuldescriptions.*Pleasenote:AltTextcanonlybeeditedonacomputer.

• Toeditthealttextwhenuploadingaphotobeforeyoupostit:o ClickPhoto/VideoatthetopofyourNewsFeed.o Selectthephotoyouwanttoadd.o ClickEditortheeditpenciliconinthelower-rightcornerofthephoto

thumbnail. o Inthenewwindowthatopens,clickAltTextinthemenuatleft.Ifthereis

automatically-generatedtextitwillappearinthisarea.

o o EntertheAltTextfortheimageintheboxandclick“Save”inthebottomright.

• Tochangethealttextofaphotoafterithasbeenposted:o Clickthephototoopenit.

o Click“Options”inthebottomrightandselect“ChangeAltText”fromthepop-upmenu(hoveroverthephototoviewtheOptionsclickabletext).

o Click“Overridegeneratedalttext”andchangethealttextinthetextboxandclick“Save.”

• AddDescriptionsforeachofyourphotosthatexplaintheimageandthecontext.

Hyperlinks

• Facebookdoesnothaveawaytocustomizehyperlinks,butitautomaticallyaddsapreviewtothelinkedwebsitethatshouldalreadybeaccessible.Ifdesired,youcanadddescriptivetextaboutthelinkedsiteinyourpostcopywiththecopiedhyperlinkasshownabove.

Hashtags and Tagging • Usecamelbackhashtagsandtagpeopleincontextwhenappropriate.• Whentaggingsomeoneinaphoto,includethattagginginformationinyouralt-text

description.Forexample,“JohnSmith’sphotoofBettyJonestakeninfrontoftheEiffelTowerinParis.”

Video • Alllinkedoraddedvideomustbecaptioned.• PREFERRED:UploadtoYouTubefirstandaddcaptionsifthevideoisnotalready

captioned.IfyouneedassistancewithYouTubecaptions,pleasecontact

accessibility@olemiss.eduorrefertoYouTube’sinstructionsforgeneratingcaptionsandYouTube’sinstructionsforeditingcaptions.

• FacebookforBusinesspageshavea“GenerateCaptions”functionforvideos.Onceavideoisuploaded,the“GenerateCaptions”buttonisfoundbyaccessingthesettingsontheindividualvideo.

o Pleasenotethattheauto-generatedcaptionswillnotbeaccurateandmustbeedited.ForinformationongeneratingandeditingcaptionsforFacebookforBusinesspages,visitFacebook’shelparticleoncaptioning.

Instagram Best Practices Images

• Instagramhasauto-generatedalt-textimagedescriptionsthatshouldbeeditedforclarityandaccuracy.

• Toeditalt-textdescriptionsbeforeyoupost:o Taptheplussigntoandchooseaphototoaddtoyourpost.o ClickNextintheupper-rightcornertochooseaFilterandclick“Next.”

o OntheSharescreen,tap“AdvancedSettings”foundinsmall,grayfontatthebottomofthescreen.

o Tap“WriteAltText”todescribeyourphotointhedialogboxonthenextscreenandtap“Done.”

o

o NavigatebacktotheSharescreenandwriteadescriptivecaptionandtap“Share”topost.

Videos • BestpracticeisthatallvideouploadedtoInstagramshouldbecaptioned.• Ifyourvideoisnotcaptioned,includeatranscriptofthevideoinyourcaptionafteryour

post’scopy.Includethehashtag#accessibilityattheendofyourvideotranscriptcaption.

• ForvideosinInstagramStoriesunder15secondsinlength,usethein-apptexteditortoadddescriptivetextaboutthevideothatcanadequatelyserveascaptions.

o AppssuchasClipomatic(PAID)createcaptionsforusewithshortvideosinInstagramandInstagramStories.Thecaptionscanbeeditedintheapp.

Hashtags and Tagging • Usecamelbackhashtagsandtagpeopleincontextwhenappropriate.• Whentaggingsomeoneinaphoto,includethattagginginformationinyouralt-text

description.Forexample,“JohnSmith’sphotoofBettyJonestakeninfrontoftheEiffelTowerinParis.”