How We Can Make Social Media More Accessible

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     One of the main benefits of social media for any use is its accessibility. After all, anyone with a smartphone should be able to participate in almost any community or discussion at any time, so long as they are connected to the internet. However, it is important to consider how people with certain disabilities or barriers may have a more difficult time using these features that we deem to be “for everybody.” It is important that people of all abilities are able to understand and interact with content on the internet in order to uplift voices from all different walks of life and create a more equitable society (Gladkov, 2025). 

    For users with disabilities, increased accessibility allows them to access more information and opportunities. For those without, it allows them to spread their contact and get feedback from the users with said disabilities. Additionally, brands will be able to advertise and cater to a larger audience if they make their content more accessible. In turn, this will give users with disabilities access to more products (Gladkov, 2025).

    There are a handful of different barriers users with disabilities may face. Visual barriers may cause users to have a hard time reading text that is too small or contrasts poorly against its background. Users who are deaf or hard of hearing may face auditory barriers, and may require captions or transcripts on videos. Motor barriers are those that limit mobility, and apply to users who are unable to use a mouse or touchscreen. Issues with understanding content that is complex or poorly organized are considered cognitive barriers, and users facing these may have trouble processing information when there are many distractions, or they may struggle with receiving too much information at a time (Gladkov, 2025). 

    Some social media platforms do a great job of making their content accessible to those who may face one or more of these barriers, but others are not so inclusive. X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and Facebook all feature short-cut keys, an alternative to navigating the app by using a mouse or touching a screen. This gives more options to users who may face motor barriers due to limited movement in their hands, wrists, or arms. It also improves experience for those who are visually impaired. X, Instagram, and LinkedIn all feature alternative text, a feature that describes images for those who are visually impaired. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok all have automatic captioning features that the user may edit to be more accurate to their video in order to help those who face auditory barriers. TikTok also allows users to activate a setting that will block videos that have been flagged as photosensitive to protect users who may have seizures triggered by flashing lights (Broce & Wurtele, 2022).

    There are a handful of ways you can make your content more accessible for users with disabilities who face these barriers. Using planned language and avoiding slang, technical terms, or other choices that may convert your message can be crucial to the accessibility of your content. Limiting the use of capital letters will make your content more accessible to screen readers (Sharma & Healey, 2021). It is important to ensure that captions on videos are accurate to the audio of the video, sized appropriately, and contrasted well with the background to guarantee maximum accuracy and visibility for users that cannot hear the content.  Camel Case is another way to ensure content works with screen readers, and it means capitalizing on the first letter of each word in a long hashtag. For example, instead of #happybirthdaytoyou, a more accessible version would be #HappyBirthdayToYou. Special fonts and characters used excessively can also cause issues with screen readers (Broce & Wurtele, 2022).

    One of the most important ways to promote accessibility is to make sure to listen to the opinions, critiques and requests of those who need these accessibility adjustments in order to consume content on the internet. By making the changes in your content and amplifying the voice of those telling us how we can make our content more accessible, we can all make information more available and more widespread. 

Comment below:

  • Have you taken any of the measures to make your content more accessible? Do you plan to? Why or why not?
  • Do you require any accessibility adjustments to be able to consume internet content more comfortably? What makes content inaccessible for you?
  • If you have an accessibility tip that was not shared in the article, feel free to comment it below to educate others. Similarly, if you want to shout out a creator that shares tips or their experiences with accessibility, leave their name below!

 

References:

Broce, N., & Wurtele, M. (2022, July 20). How Accessible Are Your Favorite Social Media Platforms?. Advocate’s Blog Archive. https://www.disabilityrightsnebraska.org/about_us/blog/archive.html/article/2022/07/20/how-accessible-are-your-favorite-social-media-platforms-#:~:text=Video%20captioning%20allows%20individuals%20with,desired%20from%20LinkedIn%20and%20Facebook. 

Gladkov, I. (2025, June 30). Accessible social media content and why it matters. AIOPSGROUP. https://aiopsgroup.com/a-complete-guide-to-accessible-social-media-content/#:~:text=Use%20of%20Colors%20and%20Contrast,those%20with%20color%20vision%20deficiencies. 

Sharma, S., & Healey, A. (2021, September 2). The power of accessibility in social media. Digitas. https://www.digitas.com/en-us/expertise/power-accessibility-social-media

 

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