How and Why We Need to Make Social Media More Accessible
With the quickly evolving role of online platforms in the modern world, access to the internet is becoming a vital part of people’s daily lives. Even more so as a result of Covid-19, ordinary tasks like communicating with friends, shopping and studying, are now being accessed remotely via a screen. In this on-going transition between the in-person and online worlds, it is important to reflect on the accessibility of these services for everyone.
What Is Accessibility?
In simple terms, this is when a resource is available and can be accessed by an individual in a meaningful way. When creating content, it is important to remember that different people have different needs to be fulfilled in order to access content. For example, an English speaker might need subtitles to access a TV show in another language.
How Can We Be More Accessible Online?
When it comes to posting content online, it’s important for content creators not to wait for requests from their followers regarding their needs, but rather to start making accessible content now. Firstly, captioning photographs and video content is an easy step to take in making the online sphere more accessible. This is important for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or neurodivergent.
Some people may rely on screen readers to access online content. The use of captions allows the device to translate the text into audio or braille.
Second, these screen reading devices are important to consider when using hashtags. These devices are not able to distinguish between words unless there is a capital letter to separate them. For example: #accessiblecontent & #AccessibleContent. This change in formatting can also make the hashtags more understandable for people in the neurodivergent community as it makes them easier to read.
Additionally, as easy at it is to replace words with emoticons, these clipart faces are another barrier for some people. Most text-to-speech software translates these icons by giving a description of the image. For example, ‘’a yellow smiley face with two red heart-shaped eyes’’. When several emojis are placed in the middle of a piece of text, it can become time consuming to listen to the translation and can make it difficult to follow the meaningful content.
Making social media more inclusive does not have to be a difficult process. All of these small changes to the way people post can improve the online experience for many.
by Shannon Jones
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