Connecting People Online

Making Social Media More Accessible

Making social media more inclusive is easier than we think and means appealing to the broadest audience. If our social media content is inaccessible, then we risk losing sections of our community, usually without realising. “Excluded web visitors often don’t complain: 71% just leave”.^[31]

Inaccessible content can have a hugely negative impact on people with disabilities, leading to feelings of alienation and dismissal:

But small changes can make a big difference, particularly to those with hearing or visual impairments.^[33]

People with disabilities often use tools to interact with social media. Understanding how these work will help you to make your social media more inclusive.^[34] Some of the most used are:

Screen reader software: also known as text-to-speech, these programmes read web pages out loud, from text to emojis and images with descriptive text.

Braille displays: like screen reader software, these tools take what is on a web page, and display it on a piece of equipment that uses tiny retractable dots to display braille. Braille displays are vital communication tools for those with multi-sensory impairments, like people who are deafblind.

Magnifying tools: these help people who are partially sighted by blowing up text and images.^[35]

Below are some handy hints and tips to help your online content work for people using these tools. These can become part of your social media strategy, and everyday practice when posting online content.

Accessible language and text

Where you can, write in plain English and avoid jargon. This will make your content clearer to everyone, strengthening your message and avoiding misunderstandings. It will make your posts and campaigns accessible to people whose second language is English, and to those with cognitive disabilities.

Avoid using full caps as this can be visually distracting, ‘shouty’ and can be misinterpreted by screen readers.^[36] Some assistive technologies will also read out every single letter of a word if it is in full caps.^[37]

Use an adequate font size and make sure text is legible. Break up big chunks of text. For those with cognitive disabilities, as well as visual impairments, solid text can be too much to read at once.^[38]

Punctuation marks are also read aloud by screen readers. Be mindful of how hashtags or @ mentions can disrupt copy and consider putting these at the end of your post.^[39]

Avoid special characters and fancy fonts. These reduce legibility, and assistive tools read special formatting very differently.^[40]

Footnotes

31. Katie Sehl, Hootsuite (2020), ‘Inclusive Design for Social Media: Tips for Creating Accessible Channels’. (Return to reference [31])
32. This information came from a webinar on social media accessibility given by Dr Amy Kavanagh, who runs The Staying Inn. (Return to reference [32])
33. Sense (2021), ‘How to make social media accessible to disabled people’. (Return to reference [33])
34. Sense (2021), ‘How to make social media accessible to disabled people’. (Return to reference [34])
35. Sense (2021), ‘How to make social media accessible to disabled people’. (Return to reference [35])
36. Katie Sehl, Hootsuite (2020), ‘Inclusive Design for Social Media: Tips for Creating Accessible Channels’. (Return to reference [36])
37. This information came from a webinar on social media accessibility given by Dr Amy Kavanagh, who runs The Staying Inn. (Return to reference [37])
38. This information came from a webinar on social media accessibility given by Dr Amy Kavanagh, who runs The Staying Inn. (Return to reference [38])
39. Katie Sehl, Hootsuite (2020), ‘Inclusive Design for Social Media: Tips for Creating Accessible Channels’. (Return to reference [39])
40. Katie Sehl, Hootsuite (2020), ‘Inclusive Design for Social Media: Tips for Creating Accessible Channels’. (Return to reference [40])