Social and Video Accessibility Standards

Guidance for posting images and videos to social media

• Add alternative (alt) text to all images, reels, and stories you post. 
  • Be concise yet informative. Only provide a description of what is meaningful to the information you are trying to convey (don’t just describe the photo).
  • Be especially cognizant of images with text overlays, such as memes, and describe the text within the image as well as the image. 
  • If you can’t find the mechanism to add alternative text into the image code, add the image description into the text of the post.
  • Automatically generated text is typically insufficient, so be sure to check it and revise as needed to align with best practices.
  • Avoid repeating text already in the post.
• Do not rely on color alone to convey meaning. If any information is only communicated via color differences (such as green for “yes” and red for “no”), individuals who are low vision, no vision, or colorblind will not understand the meaning of your post.
• Avoid embedded text in images. Text embedded within an image file, such as a flyer or infographic, cannot be read by a screen reader or other assistive technologies used by people with disabilities.
  • In addition to accessibility issues, social media algorithms also deprioritize or suppress images with lots of embedded text, showing your post to less of your audience. Best practice is to avoid embedded text as much as possible.
  • If images with text must be used, include all the text in the post text body, so that it is readable and copiable for all users. For example, someone who wants to copy and paste event details to their calendar, or mobile users who would have to “pinch and spread” to make the text large enough to read.
  • Additionally, provide a brief description of the image in the ALT text.
• When posting a video, use a descriptive title and bio relevant to the video content, and include helpful information in the video bio, including a link to a relevant website, etc.