As people use social media to find and share information, conduct outreach, and socialize it is important that its content is usable and understandable by as many people as possible.

Tips for Creating Accessible Social Media Posts

Use Plain Language

Use plain conversational language when writing for your audience. Organize and choose your words with care. Use present tense. Be clear and concise in your messaging. You want to ensure your audience can easily read and understand your content. 

Write your Hashtags in Pascal Case

Pascal case capitalizes the first letter in each word in the hashtag. For example, in the hashtag #SocialMediaAccessibility. The S in social, the M in Media and A in accessibility are all capitalized. Pascal case allows screen readers to recognize separate words and is easier to read visually.

Avoid or Spell Out Abbreviations and Acronyms

Not everyone will know what your abbreviation or acronym stands for. Craft your messages without or spell out all the full words for clarity.

Emojis

Emojis are fun, can help make your post more noticeable and may increase engagement. Emojis can also cause unintentional confusion in your message.  

Know the Assigned Descriptions of Emojis

Each emoji has an assigned description that is passed on to screen readers. Your message may be confusing if your emoji’s meta information does not match your text content. Emojipedia is a resource to help you learn the assigned descriptions of common emojis.

Avoid Excessive Use of Emojis

Repeating the same emoji multiple times can be distracting for some users.

Avoid using Emojis in Place of Bullet Points

Using emojis as bullet point in a social media post can cause confusion when a person using a screen reader encounters the message. You should use true bullet lists in your message when possible. 

Avoid Custom Fonts

Custom fonts may look interesting, but they can be hard to read and are often skipped over by screen readers. Not all assistive technologies are able to interpret custom decorative fonts.

Provide Alt Text for Images

Images you post to your social media should have alt text or image descriptions. Alt text is subjective to the post’s content and the image. Find tips for writing alt text for images.

• Add alt text to Facebook images
• Add alt text to Twitter Images
• Add Alt Text to an Instagram Photo
• Adding Alternative Text to Images in LinkedIn

Add Captions to Your Videos

Captions help make your videos more accessible. Learn how to create accessible multi-media.

• Adding captions to Facebook videos
• Adding captions to Twitter videos with Media Studio
• Manage reels and video captions on Instagram
• Captions for TikTok

Provide Audio Descriptions for Videos

Audio descriptions are an additional audio track for video which can be turned on and off. Since you cannot add multiple audio tracks to one video in YouTube, Vimeo or social media platforms, you will need to create two versions of your video. Depending on the video’s length content, you could add a text audio description as a reply post. Get tips on creating audio described videos.

Avoid Text Art

Text Art, or ASCII art, is when you create art or pictures from keyboard symbols. If you create Text Art as your social media post, screen readers will read each character individually.

Use High Contrasting Colors

Your text and background colors should have high contrast. Use the WebAim Color Contrast Checker to help check your post’s colors.

Provide Your Organization’s Contact Information

Provide your or your organization's contact information on your social media account page. Help people connect with you directly.

Post Your Content on Multiple Platforms

Make your social media content available on multiple platforms. Find help for making accessible posts on specific social media platforms.