Social Media Accessibility Guidelines

Muhlenberg College Social Media Accessibility Guidelines

Contact/Responsible Parties: 

Office of Communications & Marketing: [email protected] 

Assistant Director of Social Media & Marketing: [email protected] 

Muhlenberg College is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. All web-based and digital content must abide by the Muhlenberg College Digital Media Accessibility Policy, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This includes social media presences associated with the College.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The Muhlenberg College Social Media Accessibility Guidelines outline our legal obligations for social media accessibility and best practices utilized by the College. All social media created on behalf of the College must follow these guidelines, which can be summarized as:

  • On all platforms, images must include alternative text or an image description. 
  • Copy for social media posts should be clearly written, use inclusive language and be appropriate for screen readers.
  • Captions must be included on all videos with audio. 
  • Image design for social media needs to be accessible. Use high-contrast colors, avoid large amounts of text including posters and do not use QR codes on social media.  

Social media platforms come with additional accessibility considerations. We’ve outlined a few to help make our work accessible to all audiences (and compliant with the law!). Please read the  Muhlenberg College Digital Media Accessibility Policy and view the  Federal Social Media Accessibility Toolkit Hackpad first, then check this document for additional help and information.

CONTENTS:

Alternative Text (Alt Text) for Images

Include alternative (“alt”) text with every image you post on social media, regardless of platform. Alternative text describes the appearance or function of an image and is read aloud by screen readers or displayed in place of the image if the image fails to load. Alt text contributes to SEO and is indexed by search engine bots. Alt text is NOT a place to add additional captions, introduce new information, or include photographer credits. The goal of writing alt text is to provide as similar an experience as possible to viewing the image and improve user experience. 

Alt Text Best Practices:

    • Do not start alt text with “Picture of…” or “Image of…” as this is redundant. Screen-reading tools and Google can identify the type of content from the source code. 
    • Do not leave the field blank. Do not write “image” to fulfill mandatory alt text requirements, even if an image is decorative. Some platforms allow images to be marked as decorative in their interface, and then alt text does not need to be written. If an image cannot be marked as such, describe it with alt text.
    • Proof alt text along with your regular copy. Ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors, and that it follows Muhlenberg’s style guidelines. Alt text is just as important as your primary copy. 
    • Keep alt text brief. Every platform has a different cut-off length for alt text that may force you to edit down your description. Many screen readers cut off after only 125 characters. 
    • Good alt text includes relevant context. Appropriate alt text for an image heavily relies on the image's specific context. Successful alt text provides descriptive information for the image that considers both its intended purpose and the accompanying text on the page. Depending on the image's usage, different alternative text may be required. 
  • Ask people how they would like to be described, or be general when you cannot confirm. If you are posting an image of an individual, ask them to describe themselves in the chosen image. Never make an assumption about race, gender or motivation in an image. If you cannot ask the person how they would like to be described, write only what you are one hundred percent sure you can see in the image. 
  • Image descriptions can work as a substitute for alt text if necessary.  If you manage social media through a third-party scheduling or content management app like Sprout or Later, you may not be able to add alt text in the third-party app for platforms like Instagram. In this case, alt text must be added natively immediately after the post goes live, or an image description must be included in the post copy.  
    • Image descriptions are similar to alt text, but instead of being attached to an image as metadata, they are part of the copy itself. 

Alt Text for Stories

Stories, like on Instagram and Facebook, do not have alt text capabilities, meaning they are less accessible than other types of posts. Do not post crucial information in stories and try to limit story posts to information that can be found in other, more accessible places. For example, use stories to reshare posts from other accounts or reiterate information that has already been on your main feed and direct people to that post. This also ensures your content is still available after the story expires. 

Alt Text Resources

Post Copy

Copy on social media posts needs to be as accessible and inclusive as possible. When writing, keep in mind the Inclusive Communications Guidelines, write in plain language and follow the best practices below. 

Copy Best Practices

    • Avoid using multiple fonts in social media copy and do not use creative typography. Using different fonts and alternative characters creates problems for screen readers and can be difficult to read for those who are dyslexic or visually impaired. The best option is usually the platform’s default text option. 
    • Limit the use of emojis. All emojis have a description assigned to them, and screen readers will read out this “alt text” description that can make hearing them confusing. 
      • The best place for emojis is at the end of a sentence or post. 
      • Using multiple emojis in a row, especially one that repeats, is not advised.
      • Do not use emojis as bullet points. 
    • Use hashtags and mentions appropriately. If possible, it is best to put hashtags and @ mentions at the end of the copy. They disrupt the flow of text, especially for screenreaders.  
      • Large blocks of hashtags should be put in comments, not in the main copy. Try to pick one or two for the main post.
      • Write hashtags in Pascal Case by capitalizing the first letter of every word in the hashtag, which allows screen readers to read them properly.
        • EXAMPLE: #MuhlenbergStudyAbroad 
        • Camel Case is also an acceptable way to stylize hashtags, where the first word is not capitalized but the rest are. 
    • Spell out acronyms first. This not only helps screen readers, but those who may not be familiar with what the acronym stands for already. 
    • Avoid using all caps. All caps make words harder to identify by their shape, and screen readers may read them as acronyms instead of the intended word.

Video Captioning

Include captions with all videos that have audio.

Definitions

    • Captions: On-screen text that conveys the audio elements of a video including dialogue, sound effects, music, and background sound.
    • Open Captions: Open captions are captions embedded in the video itself. They are part of the video and cannot be toggled on and off. Open captions are preferred on social media posts if possible. 
    • Closed Captions: Closed captions (CCs) are the most common type of captions. They are uploaded to a video hosting service (usually as an SRT file) and displayed by the video player when the viewer turns on closed captioning. 
    • Subtitles: Subtitles and captions are often referred to interchangeably, but they serve different purposes. The goal of subtitles is to translate the video’s language into an alternate language. Subtitles only display spoken dialogue. Captions are in the same language as the spoken audio (and are much more comprehensive in included content). Though subtitles are a great addition to posts if possible, they are not required. 
    • SRT File: An SRT file (SubRip Subtitle file) is a plain-text file that contains information regarding subtitles, including the start and end timecodes of the text to ensure subtitles match the audio, and the sequential number of subtitles. Platforms like Instagram may require you to upload an SRT file to include captions.

Caption Best Practices

    • What to Caption:
      • Dialogue
        • Identify speakers and tones when they cannot be inferred. 
        • Caption “filler words” unless they hold no value, like during a live speech.
    • Important Sounds
      • Often, scenes have multiple sounds at once. Caption the most prominent sound or the sound that offers the most value. 
    • Sound Effects
      • Caption sound effects, except for those repeated at regular intervals (like footsteps) especially when the sounds can be inferred (i.e. the feet can be seen walking) or other sounds take precedence. 
      • Sound effects can be written in brackets [ ] to separate them from dialogue. 
    • Music
      • When music plays, name the song and artist or the instrument and identify with music notes as a visual cue in the text.
    • Background Noise 
      • Identify background noise in brackets.
        • EXAMPLE: [crowd talking], [birds chirping]
    • Lack of Sound
      • Depending on the context, it may be appropriate to establish when a sound stops (e.g. [clapping stops]) or to identify sudden silence (e.g. [silence]).
      • Identify when a sound fades away slowly in brackets.
      • Write [mouths words] or [inaudible] if a person is moving their lips without speaking.
    • Muffled or Distorted Sound
      • If audio is muffled or distorted, identify the type of distortion in brackets ([muffled] or [echoing]) and if audio returns to “normal,” indicate that in brackets as well.  
    • Captions need to match the timing while staying up long enough to be read.  As a rule of thumb, captions should not be longer than two lines at once.
    • Captions should use proper grammar. If you are writing the captions yourself, be sure to proofread them as part of the review process. If videos are being captioned through an external service such as Rev, check them for accuracy before uploading.
    • Open captions can be more efficient for social media. Incorporating captions during the editing process is easier than adding captions natively on each platform. If the video does not lend itself to having open captions, uploading an SRT file is better than captioning natively. Many third-party scheduling apps even allow SRT files to be uploaded alongside the video.
    • When linking out to a video not created by Muhlenberg, check that there are captions available or provide a transcript.

Captioning Resources

Image Design and Sharing

Some platforms like Instagram require an image to create a post, and posts do better on many platforms when they have a visual element. If you are designing an image to share, be sure to include alt text as outlined above and follow the image design best practices.

Image Design Best Practices

  • Do not rely on color to convey meaning. Information conveyed by color must also be shown in an alternate way to accommodate those who have vision impairments or are colorblind. 
    • Acceptable ways to differentiate information include text styles (like bold or italic), symbols, patterns and labels. At least one of these must be included in addition to just color differentiation. 
  • Check color contrast. The recommended color contrast is at least 4.5:1.
    • Use a contrast analyzer to check if unsure. 
    • Avoid placing text on images, which can be hard to read and may have various degrees of contrast.
  • Avoid flashing images and those with excessive movement. If you are creating an animated image, sharing a gif, or using a sticker, keep in mind this can trigger seizures and migraines.
  • Do not put large blocks of text in images. Flat images full of text are not acceptable to post on social media. This includes posters. Large blocks of text should be put in captions/copy, and any information shared via text in an image must also be reiterated in the caption. Alt text must include what the image text says, keeping in mind alt text often has a short character limit. 
  • Do not use QR codes. In addition to the security threat unverifiable QR codes can provide to users, social media posts are generally viewed on mobile devices, leaving users without a way to access the information. Instead, write out what website the user can visit or include the link in the copy.  

Image Design Resources

Additional Social Media Accessibility Resources

Last Revised: 10/10/2023
Contact Us

Office of Communications & Marketing

Email [email protected] Telephone 484-664-3230
Address Muhlenberg College Communications 2400 Chew Street Allentown, PA 18104