Social Media Accessibility Checklist
Note
This checklist will not make your content on social media completely accessible. Full accessibility requires training and a nuanced approach. This checklist is a collection of legal requirements and best practices to help people with limited accessibility training make social media more accessible. For content like text, images, graphics, and audio/video, refer to the “Basic checklists” at accessibility.ucsd.edu/checklists.
Links
- Any self-descriptive or short links are published without the use of a link-shortener. If you do use a link shortener, you need to describe what the link does in the post e.g. “RegSign up here: 0ny.cc/XYZ”
#Hashtags
- Hashtags are written in PascalCase (a.k.a StudyCase), #LikeThis, not #likethis. You can also use camelCase hashtags #likeThis, not #likethis.
- Hashtags are ideally placed at the end of the post, not in the middle as that interrupts the flow of screen readers.
- There are no large blocks of hashtags. If “hashtag cloud’ must be used, place them in the first comment instead of in the primary content area.
Tags
- Tags are relevant and contextual. Don’t tag accounts solely based on special requests or to reach a larger audience.
- If the tag doesn’t clearly indicate the account it links to, it is ideal to name the person or organization directly and then place the tag in parentheses after that, or simply place the tags at the end of the post.
Emojis
- Limited and relevant emojis are used — no more than 3 in the entire post.
- No color or symbol is solely relied upon to convey meaning — don’t use emojis in place of text.
- Emojis are placed at the beginning or the end of posts. Emojis in the middle of posts disrupt the flow of screen readers and confuse the meaning of sentences.
- Emojis are not used as bullet points.
- Emojis do not repeat multiple times.
- All emoji descriptions are checked on emojipedia.org before use.