Build Better Social Media

Accessibility Interactions

Social media content consists of images, audio, text, and hyperlinks, so the tips throughout this site are relevant again here. However, some content such as hashtags—is unique to social media. 

Best Practices

  • Hashtags: Capitalization can make hashtags more readable. Use #camelCase, where the first letter of the second word and subsequent words in a string are capitalized, or #PascalCase, where the first letter of each word is capitalized. In both cases all the words are run together and there are no spaces between words.
  • Keep post formatting simple: Avoid getting creative with the visual display of content using spaces, tabs, and hard returns.
  • Emoji: Use emojis in moderation. Use them at the end of posts and don’t use emojis for bullet points.
  • Use video captioning: Add closed or open captions to all video content. Edit all auto-generated captions. Apply appropriate punctuation, capitalization, and correct spelling of proper nouns.
  • Audio description of video content: Create audio or written descriptions for all video content. Written descriptions are both easier to create and implement since most platforms don’t allow for multiple video files. Check the Description field of this 2020 ad by Gucci for a sample written narration of the visual content.
  • Use inclusive language and avoid ableist words: Use conversational, concise plain language and avoid phrases like “crazy”, “dumb”, and “lame” which have anti-disability connections.
  • Avoid alternative characters: Don't copy and paste alternative characters from external sites. Fancy fonts are generally not recognizable by assistive technologies and are unvoiced, voiced as gibberish, or translated to another language.
  • Avoid ASCII art: Avoid using or sharing content with ASCII art in it. ASCII art, art created using letters, numbers, and punctuation, often don’t render correctly across devices and browsers, and are completely meaningless to assistive technology users.
options for describing this image in text
  • Image description: Write alternative text for photos and other static visuals. Although a one or two word alt text description may technically make your image accessible, it often misses out on conveying tone and engaging your audience.
    • Compare these two descriptions for this image:
      • “People petting dogs”
      • “A fluffy black and white Shih Tzu is surrounded by a group of students sitting on the library floor, petting it affectionately.”

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