How Can We Make Social Media More Accessible?

Jessica Blackwood; Kate Brown

54 How Can We Make Social Media More Accessible?

This resource has been developed in partnership with Library Accessibility Services and their Inclusive Social Media web page.

Developing accessible social media content is a crucial component of building an inclusive community, and when it is not incorporated into our daily practice, can unintentionally exclude many individuals from valuable and unique facets of our community.

Although content creators are not responsible for the accessibility of the social media platform, they are responsible for posting accessible content.

Accessibility features on social media platforms are constantly being added or refined, and as such our training may contain some content that is out of date.

Considerations for Content Creators

Receivers of digital content will experience fundamentally different levels of access to the content being distributed when considering several variables, including:

The format in which you’re publishing content that you are creating and circulating (text, video, image, story feature, etc.)
The intended purpose of the information (Central communications? News stories? Video narrative / interview? Etc.)
As well as the environment in which the information will be presented / communicated (Which platform? What feature from that platform? How will audience members interact with that platform?)

Best Practices for All Platforms

Videos: Enable automatically generated captions or add your own captions.
Images: Add alternative text (alt-text), tag, or manually caption the image using the [Image Description: _] format.
- Images you create with text should have sufficient contrast and font sizes.
Hashtags: Use CamelCase, or WriteHashtagsLikeThis instead of WRITINGLIKETHIS or writinglikethis.
Links: Indicate where links will take a user, like [Audio], [Photo], or [Video].
- Use an URL shortener when you cannot format links, like Bitly, or a link service like Linktree, to improve the browsing experience for assistive technology users.
Avoid using acronyms or ALL CAPS.
Hashtags and links should be placed at the end of a post.

Accessible Colour Contrast

*New* – colours have been updated to reflect the 2024 evolved brand update.

WCAG 1.4.6 Contrast (Enhanced) AAA – on White

Heritage Maroon (7A003C): 11 (HM Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text)
Heritage Gold (FDBF57): 1.6 (HG Fail) – Example
*New* Heritage Grey (495965): 7.2 (HGr Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text)
*New* King’s Forest Green (0E5B3D): 8.1 (KFG Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text)
*New* Bayfront Blue (0D5D78): 7.3 (DG Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text)
Dundurn Grey (DBDBDD): 1.3 (DG Fail) – Example

WCAG 1.4.6 Contrast (Enhanced) AAA – on Black

Heritage Maroon (7A003C): 2.7 (Fail)
Heritage Gold (FDBF57): 12.7 (Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text)
*New* Royal Botanical Pink (FF9980) – 10.1 (RBP Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text) – Example
*New* Cootes Paradise Green (E4EA6C) – 10.1 (CPG Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text) – Example
*New* Albion Falls Blue (AAD5E1) – 13.3 (AFB Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text) – Example
*New* Pier 4 Purple (CC99CC) – 8.9 (P4P Pass AAA Headers, AAA Text) – Example