The Accessible Social Checklist

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Use the Accessible Social Checklist to double-check your social media content before publishing it
online. Please note that this checklist is not meant to be exhaustive or a fix-all for your content. It will
remind you to include accessible best practices in your social media strategy and help you develop
good content creation habits. Before you know it, they’ll become a natural part of your process and
you’ll no longer need the checklist!

To learn more about accessible best practices for social media content and digital communications,
please visit www.accessible-social.com.

COPY A ND FOR M AT T ING IM AGE S A ND V I SUA L S

 I used hashtags in moderation.  I wrote appropriate alt text for all of my
images, including GIFs.
 I put multi-word hashtags in Camel Case.
 I made sure to include any flattened copy
 I placed hashtags at the end of posts and from my images in the alt text.
tweets when possible.
 If an image had excessive flattened copy on
 I placed any hashtag clouds in the first it like an official statement or organizational
comment of my Instagram posts instead of update, I linked out from the post or tweet
the caption area. to a webpage where the full statement was
available as readable text and also added the
 I didn’t use tabs or spaces to manipulate the appropriate alt text to the image.
formatting of my written content.
 Any graphics I used in my content had suitable
 I avoided using studly case in my copy. contrast applied to the colors to ensure that
the copy was legible.
 I did my best to write in plain language,
keeping my copy clear and concise. AUDIO A ND V IDEO
 I captioned all videos that contained dialogue
 I used emoji in moderation.
and/or informative audio.
 I didn’t use emoji as bullet points.
 I provided a description of the visual elements
of my videos either through copy or audio
 I avoided putting emoji in the middle of when possible.
written copy.
 I made live captioning available for any live
 I stuck to the default yellow emoji unless a videos or streams.
custom skin tone was necessary for context.
 I avoided using flashing lights or strobe effects
 I double-checked all emoji descriptions on in my videos.
emojipedia.org before using them.
 I made a transcript available for any audio-
 I didn’t use any alternative characters from only content.
external websites to make my type appear in
different weights, styles, or fonts.
head to page two for a glossary of
 I didn’t use ASCII Art in any of my posts. relevant words and phrases
 The Accessible Social Checklist
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ACCESSIBILIT Y: the practice of creating FLATTENED COPY: text on digital assets like
products, spaces, and/or content that is usable by JPEG, PNG, GIF, and occasionally PDF files that
people with the widest possible range of abilities, has been turned into an object upon the file
operating within the widest possible range of being exported from its program of creation. It
situations. Accessibility focuses on enabling is no longer recognizable as readable text by
access for people with disabilities or enabling an assistive device or program. Flattened copy
access through the use of assistive technology. cannot be selected by a cursor.
Accessibility is sometimes stylized as the number-
based word a11y. OPEN CAPTIONS: captions that have been
embedded into a video during post-production
ALTERNATIVE CHAR ACTERS: Unicode and are always visible. They cannot be turned
characters copied from external websites that off. Open captions are typically used when closed
are different from a platform’s default font and captioning is not an option or if the producer
formatting options. wants more creative control over the look and
feel of the captions.
ALTERNATIVE TEXT: meta description that an
assistive device or program uses to accurately STUDLY CASE: mixed case with no semantic or
describe a digital image to blind and low-vision syntactic significance to the use of the capitals.
users. Commonly referred to as “alt text” or Sometimes only vowels are upper case, at other
“image description”. times upper and lower case are alternated, but
often it is simply random. Often used by internet
ASCII ART: form of digital design that uses users to convey mocking sarcasm. Also known
numbers, letters, punctuation marks, and as “varied case” or “SpongeBob case” after the
other characters to create illustrative memes. popular Mocking SpongeBob meme.
Pronounced ass-kee.
SUBTITLES: language-specific captions intended
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: form of narration used for viewers who do not understand and/or
to provide information surrounding key visual speak the language being spoken in the media.
elements in media such as a film, television show, Subtitles can be closed or open depending on the
or theatrical performance to make the content production of the video.
accessible for blind and low-vision consumers.
TR ANSCRIPT: text version of the speech and/
CAMEL CASE: practice of capitalizing the first or non-spoken audio information. Descriptive
letter of each word in multi-word hashtags so transcripts also include text description of the
that assistive devices and programs say the visual information needed to understand the
hashtag correctly and not as one amalgamated content.
word. It is sometimes stylized as “camelCase” or
“CamelCase” depending on the use scenario. UNICODE: information technology standard
for the consistent encoding, representation,
CLOSED CAPTIONING: process of displaying and handling of text expressed in most writing
text on a video to provide interpretive systems. The standard, which is maintained
information about the dialogue or other audio by the Unicode Consortium, defines 143,859
heard in the video. Closed captions can be characters covering 154 modern and historic
toggled on and off based on the preferences of scripts, as well as symbols, emoji, and non-visual
the viewer. control and formatting codes.
EMOJI: pictograms, logograms, ideograms, and WRITTEN DESCRIPTION: text that provides
smiley faces used in electronic messages and info surrounding key visual elements in media—
web pages. An emoji’s primary function is to fill such as a film, television show, or theatrical
in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed performance—to make the content accessible
conversation. for blind and low vision consumers. Similar to an
audio description, but in written form.