Assessing the Accessibility of Social Media Platforms

Published September 6, 2022

Social media is a fixture in our society. Through platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter people worldwide can connect. The corporate space has also benefited. Thanks to social media, small businesses and large corporations can craft a customer experience that is immersive, transparent, and accommodating.

However, the benefits of social media only work if everyone can access them. In other words, social media platforms must account for the needs of people with differing ability levels. And in doing so, they can ensure that people of all abilities can participate in the communities they create space for. 

User needs

When assessing the accessibility of a social media platform, consider the potential needs of its visitors. Can people of all abilities use the platform, including users with disabilities?

Determining this takes effort. The definition of disability contains a diverse array of conditions. As such, accessible social media platforms must cover all their bases.

Accessible layout

An accessible social media platform has a simple design. The layout should be easy to navigate without too many distractions. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the industry standard for measuring the accessibility of digital content. WCAG includes criteria that can help inform accessible design practices.

Twitter’s interface is a good example of an accessible layout. Its simplistic design makes it one of the more accessible platforms on the market.

Accessible images

Most social media sites emphasize image-based content, which can cause accessibility issues for those with visual impairments. These users may use screen readers to navigate digital content. 

Platforms that take this accessibility need into account will accommodate adding alt text to images. Alt text communicates the important content of an image. It allows screen readers to convey the meaning of an image on a page, which is useful on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. Both image-heavy platforms allow users to add their own alt text. 

Accessible video content

Along with images, social media platforms are increasingly incorporating the use of video content. Platforms like Youtube and TikTok have been leading the way, with Instagram close behind. As exciting of a trend as this is, video content is inherently inaccessible. 

Accessible social media platforms address this with closed captions. Closed captions provide a text alternative to the audio used in a video. This can be helpful for individuals with auditory needs. Luckily, many video-based social media platforms offer closed captions. There has also been a movement amongst content creators to utilize closed captions for the sake of accessibility.

Accepting feedback

Accessible social media platforms allow users to provide feedback on their experiences. Through customer feedback, social media companies gain direct insight into how to improve their platforms. According to digital.gov, accessible social media sites should “list a primary phone number and email address where a user can reach your agency with questions, or provide a link to your agency website that lists the appropriate contact information.”

Places to improve

Though most platforms have some accessibility features, the way they work isn’t always optimal. For example, while Instagram allows adding alt text to images, the automatically-generated alt text tends to be inaccurate. So in order to provide better alt text, users need to enter it themselves. Depending on the needs of some users, this can be quite a hassle.

This issue is also present on Youtube. Though Youtube videos can have closed captions added, not all videos have them. And automatically-generated captions tend to be inaccurate, leaving it up to users to provide accurate ones. 

Another issue is a lack of audio descriptions on video-based platforms. An audio description is a narration that describes the sequence of events in a video. These are of great help to individuals with visual impairments and comprehension needs. Unfortunately, this is not a common option on most social media sites.

In closing

As it stands, most of the well-known social media platforms offer ways to ensure user accessibility. By accounting for various needs, sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer their services for a wide range of individuals to connect.

 

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