Although social media platforms are great tools for sharing information, keep in mind that social media should be used as an extension of your department’s overall communication strategy and not as its primary or single method of providing important information.
To make social media accessible, try to use plain language and avoid acronyms whenever possible. As a best practice, have your department’s contact information current and easily available.
Facebook allows users to provide a description of their photos using alternative text. While Facebook has object recognition technology to automatically generate a description of the photo, it is better to write Alt Text for photos.
To add the description before the post is published:
To add the description after the post has been published:
For more information go to Facebook’s Help Page.
Facebook videos (including Facebook Live) should be captioned. Fill out the Caption Request Form. For assistance, contact OIIE at ada AT_TOWSON or at 410-704-0203. Please submit requests for Facebook Live videos two weeks in advance.
When using text as a graphic, make sure the text has sufficient contrast with the background.
NOTE: For more information on Facebook accessibility features and to stay updated, visit the Accessibility Page on Facebook.
To add alternative text to images, go into settings and turn the alternative text feature on.
Creating captions for videos for Twitter is challenging. Captions must be made directly in the video file. For questions, contact OIIE at ada AT_TOWSON or at 410-704-0203. NOTE: At this time, Live videos on Twitter cannot currently be captioned.
When you tweet a hyperlink, indicate if it links to audio, a picture or a video. Use the following notifications [AUDIO], [PIC], or [VIDEO] whenever possible.
To minimize the number of characters in a hyperlink, use a URL shortener such as Bitly.
Put mentions (or tags) and hashtags at the end of your tweets.
Use upper-lower (camel case) for each word in a hashtag (e.g. #TowsonUniversity).
NOTE: For more information on Twitter accessibility, please visit the Twitter Help Center.
Instagram allows custom alternative text to be added when uploading a photo or after, Instagram also uses object recognition technology to provide a description of a photo but it is better to write and edit an Alt Text for posts. To add the description do the following:
For more information go to Instagram's Help Page.
Creating captions for videos for Instagram is challenging. Captions must be made directly in the video file. For assistance, contact OIIE by email at ada AT_TOWSON or at 410-704-0203.
Put mentions (or tags) and hashtags at the end of your post.
Use upper-lower (camel case) for each word in a hashtag (e.g. #TowsonUniversity)
You have multiple options to caption your YouTube videos. For short videos, it’s possible to automatically caption videos through the YouTube platform, but you will need to review and correct the captions as needed. For detailed directions, see the YouTube Help Document.
For longer videos, please fill out the Caption Request Form. For assistance, contact OIIE at ada AT_TOWSON or at 410-704-0203.
Use the “Basic Info” section to describe the video in plain language.