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Introduction
This week, I focus on social media accessibility. On March 15, 2022, the
Conducted a webinar entitled
“Accessible Social Media 2.0”.
The term 2.0 was used because the same ADA center conducted a
webinar about social media accessibility basics in December 2021.
featuring same presenter. IN this blog post, I will summarize what I learned during the recent webinar about social media accessibility.
The presentation began with an overview of why accessibility matters on social media and how to general tips for implementing it.
Why Accessibility Matters on Social Media
Accessibility can show inclusive best practices. Social media audiences with disabilities can be deprived of information on social media if accessibility is not implemented.
How to Improve Accessibility
Formatting can help screen reader users understand information. Organization and plain language can enable the audience to understand points being made. Focus then shifted to improving accessibility of images.
Image Accessibility
Alternative text can describe pictures for people with limited or no vision. The amount of description can affect image accessibility. Automatic alternative text is not always useful, according to the presenter. Alternative text can be entered manually when adding a caption to posts using some social media sites. Alternative text should be objective and accurate. The presenter wrapped up her presentation by discussing techniques for making video and audio on social media accessible.
Accessible Video and Audio
Audio description, when added to video content, can help a person who is blind understand visual information. The presenter said this can be achieved by creating a version of the video with description and one without. An alternative would be to provide a text description of visual information along with videos. Sub-titles, known as captioning, can help people who are autistic, deaf or have learning disabilities.
Questions and Answers
Someone asked how much description should be provided for alternative text. Answer: Consider what crucial information is not conveyed in the post itself. Another person asked how to make live social media content accessible. The presenter said accessibility of live content can be challenging. However, Facebook allows captioning of live events. The presenter suggested avoiding live events for accessibility reasons. Bottom line: Accessibility may sound complicated, but it can lead to inclusion of people with disabilities.
Question for Readers
Of the accessibility subjects discussed above, which caught your attention and why? I will return with another article.
Blake's talk 