When the internet came into our lives, the Web have become a significant resource in many aspects of life. To provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with diverse abilities, it is important that the websites are accessible. While many organizations are taking the right steps towards a more accessible and inclusive website, the same isn’t necessarily true for their social media channels. While you cannot change the accessibility of the social media platforms, here’s what you can do to make your social media more accessible to provide equal access to your content.

1. Use CamelCase hashtags.

Capitalize the first letter of each word. This is easier for everyone to read and helps automated screen readers to differentiate each word and read out loud. #WriteYourHashtagsThisWay #dontdoitthisway

2. Don’t use too many emojis.

Screen readers have a text description for every emoji. However, when you use too many of them, it might take a long time for a screen reader to read them and to be honest it might also get boring. You wouldn’t want to say “Face with Tongue” five times in a row. 😛😛😛😛😛

3. Avoid GIFs.

On social media platforms, it’s not possible to add alt text to GIFs. So if you insist on using GIFs, you should combine them with some explanation to make them comprehensible.
Moreover, flashing, blinking, flickering and other strong visual images can make it difficult for people with cognitive or learning disabilities to focus on your post.

4. Add subtitles to your videos.

Without subtitles, your videos would exclude the 466 million people worldwide living with some form of hearing loss. This is equivalent to 6% of the world’s population. That means your videos are not accessible to a lot of people.
You can add subtitles to your videos on all your social media platforms, even to your Instagram stories with useful apps such as Subcap. Subcap allows you to shoot a video simultaneously or upload a video from the gallery. It automatically transcribes the audio to text which you can edit or copy. With Subcap, you can easily and automatically add subtitles to your videos, not only in English but also in 125 languages and variants.

As a matter of fact, eight out of every ten people prefer to watch videos silently so it’s not just people with disabilities who benefit from accessible social media. Subtitles are helpful for people who are watching videos in a noisy environment, in a quiet place, or without headphones, as well as for children learning to read and those watching videos in a second language.

5. Add image descriptions.

You should add alternate (alt) texts in order to provide a context in place of an image, graphic, and other media. This way, screen readers can describe them for blind and low vision users. Text descriptions should be brief but descriptive.
And don’t forget to write image descriptions for your posts or tweets with screenshots. They might include writing, but screen readers can’t read it unless you add it as an alt text.