How to make your posts inclusive on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
Social media is one of the primary ways youth organisations communicate with young people. It is where you share news, promote events, celebrate achievements, and build community. But for many young people with disabilities, social media platforms present significant accessibility barriers – from images with no descriptions to videos without captions to graphics packed with text that screen readers cannot read. Making your social media accessible is not complicated, but it does require building some new habits.
Most major social media platforms now allow you to add alt text to images before posting. On Instagram, tap ‘Advanced settings’ when creating a post and select ‘Write alt text.’ On Facebook, click the three dots on an uploaded image and select ‘Edit alt text.’ On LinkedIn, you will see an ‘Add alt text’ option when uploading an image.
Write a description that conveys the purpose of the image, not just its literal content. Think about what the image communicates and make sure that information is available in text form to anyone who cannot see the image.
All video content shared on social media should include captions. Most platforms offer automatic captioning – Instagram Reels and TikTok both generate captions automatically, which you can edit before posting. On Facebook and YouTube, you can add or edit caption tracks after uploading. Always review and correct automatically generated captions before publishing. Errors in automated captions can make your content confusing or inaccessible.
A very common practice in social media content is creating graphics that contain important information as text within the image – announcements, event details, quotes. This text is invisible to screen readers. If your graphic contains text, that same text must appear in the post caption or in the alt text. Do not share important information in image-only form.
When you post a photo or video, briefly describe what is shown in your caption, especially if the image is central to the post’s meaning. This is good practice for all users – many people scroll social media without audio, or in environments where they cannot easily see images – and it is essential for users with visual impairments.
When writing hashtags with multiple words, capitalise the first letter of each word. #DigitalAccessibility is read by screen readers as three distinct words. #digitalaccessibility is read as a single string of characters, which is confusing and sometimes unintelligible. This small change makes your hashtags readable for screen reader users and clearer for everyone.
Screen readers read out the name of every emoji. A post with ten rocket emojis becomes ten announcements of ‘rocket.’ Use emoji sparingly, place them at the end of sentences rather than mid-sentence, and never use them as substitutes for words.
If your video contains important visual information that is not described in the audio track – a graph being shown, a demonstration being performed, a location being visited – consider adding an audio description. This can be done as a voiceover or as a text description in the caption.
If you create graphics for social media, ensure that text has sufficient contrast against the background. Use a contrast checker tool to verify that your colour combinations meet WCAG standards. Low contrast text is difficult to read for users with low vision, and in poor lighting conditions, for many users generally.
Accessible social media is not about overhauling your entire content strategy. It is about building a small set of consistent habits: alt text, captions, descriptive writing, and thoughtful design. Over time, these habits become automatic – and your content becomes genuinely inclusive.
