Social Media

Social media accessibility ensures that everyone, including people with disabilities, can engage with your content. As social media platforms are visual and interactive, it's essential to consider accessibility from the start. Understanding these principles will help you create content that is accessible to all users.

All content published by University of Cincinnati social media accounts must meet university accessibility guidelines. Creating accessible social content not only supports compliance, but also improves clarity, reach, and overall user experience for all audiences.

Focus Areas

These are the key accessibility concepts that apply to social media. Each link will take you to a page with more detailed information about the core concept. Use these focus areas to ensure your social media content is accessible and engaging for everyone.

  • Alt Text: Images are central to social media, from photos and graphics to GIFs and carousels. Alt text ensures that people using screen readers can understand the content and purpose of an image. On social media, alt text should clearly describe what’s happening in the image and convey any essential information shown visually.
  • Hyperlinks: Links shared on social platforms should be descriptive and meaningful. Screen readers read link text aloud, so users need to know where a link will take them without additional context. Avoid vague phrases like “click here” and instead describe the destination or action in the link text.
  • Color Contrast: Text placed over images, graphics, or video must have sufficient contrast to be readable for users with low vision or color blindness. This is especially important for infographics, promotional graphics, and text overlays commonly used in social posts.
  • Copy Formatting: Formatting choices such as emojis, line breaks, hashtags, and special characters can impact how screen readers interpret content. Thoughtful formatting helps ensure posts are clear, readable, and not overwhelming when read aloud.
  • Captions & Transcripts: Video is a major content format on social media. Captions are essential for users who are deaf or hard of hearing and are also widely used by viewers watching without sound. All social video content must include accurate captions, and transcripts should be available when appropriate. 

Tools to Know

The following tools are commonly used or recommended for creating accessible social media content:Replace with your text

Native Social Platform Tools

Video & Captioning Tools

  •  Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro – caption creation and open-caption support
  • YouTube – provides caption creation, and editor for closed captions of longer for content

Design & Color Contrast

Paid Tools

  • Sprout Social for AI alt-text generation
  • Slate Social for open captioning

Sample Use Cases

  • Use Case: You're creating a fun and engaging post using emojis to convey emotion or emphasis.
  • Guidance: Be mindful of how emojis are read by screen readers. Avoid placing them between words, and use them sparingly to prevent confusion. Place emojis at the end of sentences, and be aware that custom emojis with skin tones have longer descriptions.
  • Use Case: You want to share a video that reaches all users, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
  • Guidance: Ensure all videos have captions. Some platforms may require open captions if they don't support captioning files. Make sure the text on the screen has enough contrast, and avoid auto-playing media to accommodate users with cognitive impairments.
  • Use Case: You're sharing a GIF to add humor or illustrate a point in your post.
  • Guidance: Not all platforms support alt text for GIFs. Ensure your post can be understood without the GIF, and consider adding a brief description in brackets if needed. Avoid relying solely on GIFs to convey important information.
  • Use Case: You want to use hashtags to increase the reach of your post.
  • Guidance: Use CamelCase for hashtags (e.g., #UniversityOfCincinnati) to make them readable by screen readers. Limit the number of hashtags to avoid overwhelming users, as screen readers will read each one aloud.
  • Use Case: You're posting an infographic to present data visually.
  • Guidance: Ensure colors are well-contrasted and include alt text for the image. Avoid relying solely on color to convey information, and consider providing a text summary of the key insights.
  • Use Case: You're sharing a link to additional content or resources.
  • Guidance: Keep URLs short, as screen readers read them as long strings. Use URL shorteners if necessary, and ensure link text is descriptive so users know where they will be directed.