Social Media

Plain language is writing that is easy to read and understand. Plain language makes content more accessible to everyone, and it can be used in different contexts. 

Make your writing more understandable by being concise, organized, clear, using common words, defining acronyms and avoiding jargon. For additional help use the Hemingway Editor and get a reading level score and other suggestions or Digital.gov’s Plain Language Guide.

QR codes are a popular way to share information by scanning the code using a mobile device. However, by sharing a QR code through ParentSquare the majority of families will not be able to access the information because they are viewing the QR code on their phone and do not have any way to scan it. Only families viewing the ParentSquare message on their desktop computer will have the ability to scan the code with their phone.

Instead, share a link instead of a QR code for families to access information. Learn about best practices for using links below.

Links let users go to a new page or place on the web or in a digital document. Links make content accessible by making it clear where each link goes, with good link text.

Accessible link text is short, descriptive, understandable, and unique:

• Short — Just a few words, no more than 5 if possible
• Descriptive — Describes where it goes or what it does, so a user knows what will happen in advance
• Understandable — Text that is readable for humans, not a long URL string
• Unique — Not the same as other link text on the same page or document, unless it goes to the same place

Avoid phrases that are meaningless out of context such as “more,” “click here,” or “this article.” These links are confusing to people who are visually scanning content, or browsing content by links only with assistive technologies including screen readers.

Emoji are graphical symbols that appear alongside text in messages, emails, social media, etc. Many times if you use ChatGPT or other forms of AI to write posts, emojis will be included with the suggested text. However, not all uses of emojis are accessible.

• Keep emojis to the end of your message to avoid confusion for screen readers.
• Never use emojis to replace words as it will make your content inaccessible.
  • You cannot be sure people will interpret the emoji as you intended.
  • The alt text descriptions used by screen readers may not match your meaning of the emoji. Check the text descriptions of emojis at https://emojipedia.org/. 
  • Using emoji instead of words, increases cognitive load for everyone.
• Be aware, how emojis are presented depends on the device and operating system, so check to make sure they translate well across devices.
  • For example, the 🏚️ emoji has four different identifiers based on different operating systems: Abandoned House, Old House, Haunted House and Derelict House. 
• Don't place emojis or symbols in the middle of words, since it affects how they are read by screen readers
  • Example: the singer Ke$ha’s stage name was pronounced Key-dollar-sign-ha since the “S” in her name was replaced with a “$.”
• Don’t use emojis as bullet points:
  • Screen readers read each emoji’s alt text aloud. This makes it longer to read the list and risks muddling clarity.
• Use emojis, not emoticons.
  • Emojis have built-in alt text descriptions and will be parsed as text by a screen reader.
  • Emoticons are manipulated punctuation marks and will be read out as punctuation marks (e.g.  :-)  )

Make sure each word in multi-word hashtags is discernible for assistive technology. This can be achieved by putting a hashtag in Camel Case or Pascal Case. Pascal Case can also be referred to as Title Case.

A hashtag in Camel Case #looksLikeThis, with the first word in all lowercase and then the first letter of each subsequent word capitalized. A hashtag in Pascal Case or Title Case #LooksLikeThis, with the first letter in each word of the hashtag capitalized.

Either formatting will make a hashtag accessible. Lowercase and uppercase letters help a screen reader identify separate words, allowing it to pronounce hashtags correctly. This is one of the easiest accessibility best practices to incorporate into your content creation process.

Alternative text, or alt text, is a short description of an image. Alt text makes images (photos, diagrams, logos) accessible by providing a meaningful text alternative for people who can’t see, access, or process the original image. Alt text is not the same as an image caption, but is added in the document’s code and usually not displayed.

Good alt text is accurate, short, contextual, and not repetitive.

• Accurate
  • Correctly describes the content or purpose of the image
• Short
  • Not longer than it needs to be
  • A few words to a few sentences, usually limited to 150 characters
• Contextual
  • Communicates the purpose of the image in context
  • When writing alt text ask yourself, Why is this here? Not just, What does this show?
• Not repetitive
  • Does not begin with “image of,” because assistive technology already identifies the image as an image
    • Can describe format or genre, such as “photograph of students lounging near Diag,” “pencil drawing of students at a table studying”
  • Does not repeat description provided in the caption or surrounding text

Alt Text Example:

Bad Alt Text: George Washington
Good Alt Text: A painting by artist Emanuel Leutze of George Washington crossing the Delaware River

Alt Text

From a Desktop:

1. Click Photo/Video at the top of your Feed

2. Select the photo you want to add.
3. Hover over the photo and click Edit.
4. Click Alternative text in the menu on the left.
5. The automatically generated text will be shown on the left of your photo. Click Custom alt text to edit it.
6. Write your alt text in the box. 
7. To save your alt text, click Done in the bottom left.

From a Mobile Phone:

1. Click the Create button and choose Post.
2. Select the Gallery button from the button of the screen.
3. Choose your photo(s) and click Next.
4. Click the pencil icon displayed in the right corner of your photo(s).
5. On the bottom of the screen, click the Settings button.
6. Click Write alt text and write your alt text in the box. 
7. To save your alt text, click Done and finish publishing your post.

Change the alt text of a photo after you've posted it (Desktop or Mobile)

• Click the photo to open it.
• Click the three dots (•••)  in the top right and select Change Alt Text.
• Click on Type alternative text or change the alt text in the text box. 
• Click Save.

Add Captions to Video

You can add captions to your Page's video to make it accessible to a broader audience. You can automatically generate captions and edit them, write them yourself or you can upload a SubRip (.srt) file.

From a Desktop:

1. Click Photo/video at the top of your timeline or Feed.
2. Click Add photos/videos and choose a video from your computer.
3. Once your video has uploaded, click Video Options on the video thumbnail.
4. Click Add Captions on the left, then select whether you'd like to auto-generate captions or upload a SubRip (.srt) file.
5. Click Save, then click Post.

To add captions to an existing video on your Page, find the post on your Page's timeline, click on the three dots (•••)  in the top-right corner, select Edit Post and follow the steps above.

Note: People who watch your Page's video with sound turned off will automatically see captions. People who watch your video with sound turned on will need to turn on captions to see them. The language people see captions in is determined by their preferred language.

Alt Text

Automatic alt text uses object recognition technology to provide a visual description of photos for people with visual impairments. You can replace this text to provide a better description of a photo. Keep in mind that this description will only be read if someone is using a screen reader to access Instagram.

Edit alt text for a photo before you share it

To see and edit alt text for a photo before you post it on Instagram:

• Start by uploading an existing photo to Instagram.
• If needed, choose a filter and edit the image, then click Next.
• Click Accessibility, then write the alt text in the box.
• Click Share to post.

Change the alt text of a photo after you've shared it

To change the alt text of a photo after you've already posted it on Instagram:

• Above your photo or video, click the three dots button (•••).
• Click Edit.
• Click Accessibility, then write the alt text in the box.
• Click Done to save your changes.

Share a reel or video with captions

You can manage captions for your own video post before or after sharing it.

Manage captions before sharing a video post:

1. Before sharing a reel, tap the three dots button (•••).
2. Scroll to Accessibility and translation, then press to toggle on Enable closed captions to turn it on or off.

Manage captions for a video post after you shared it:

1. Tap the three dots button (•••) at the bottom of the video.
2. Tap Play/Manage button, then tap Edit.
3. Tap Advanced settings, then press to toggle on Enable closed captions to turn it on or off.

Keep in mind that if captions are available for posts you share, they’ll automatically show unless you turn them off.

How to add captions to Instagram stories

1. Upload or create your story in the Instagram app as usual but don’t post it yet
2. Tap the sticker icon that looks like a smiley face
3. Tap the word ‘captions’ to automatically create the captions based on the words spoken in your video
4. If any of the words are wrong, tap on the caption to edit them. There are usually errors so it’s important to check this properly
5. Choose a good colour and format for your caption, making sure there’s enough contrast with the background so it’s easy to read. You can do this using the buttons at the top of the screen
6. Position the captions so they’re not covering key parts of your story and post.

How to add alt text through the desktop version of Meta Business Suite:

1. After uploading an image, click the pencil button to the right of the thumbnail in the Media section.
2. Select Alt Text from the menu of options that appears.
3. Write alt text in the available field. 
4. Click Apply.

NOTE:  many users have reported a glitch where they write alt text for posts in Meta Business Suite, but the image descriptions do not ship with the published posts. Make sure to double-check any posts published via Meta Business Suite to avoid this issue.

Editing Alt Text on Desktop:

It is not currently possible to edit alt text through Meta Business Suite after publishing a post. If an image's alt text needs to be updated, edit the alt text through Facebook or Instagram.

Using Automatic Captions for Videos

Automatic captions may not be ready at the time that you upload a video. Processing time depends on the complexity of the video's audio.

YouTube is constantly improving its speech recognition technology. But automatic captions might misrepresent the spoken content due to mispronunciations, accents, dialects, or background noise. Always review automatic captions and edit any parts that haven't been properly transcribed.

Here's how you can review automatic captions and make changes, if needed:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Subtitles.
3. Click the video you want to add captions or subtitles to.
4. Under “Subtitles”, click the three dots button (•••) next to the subtitles you want to edit.
5. Review automatic captions and edit or remove any parts that haven't been properly transcribed.

Using Automatic Captions for Live-Streams

Automatic captions for live streams are currently being rolled out to English channels.After the live stream ends, live automatic captions won't remain on the video. New automatic captions will be generated based on the VOD process, and may be different from the ones that appeared during the live stream.

Here's how you can turn on live automatic captions (English only):

1. Go to YouTube.
2. From the top right, click Create > Go live.
3. Choose Stream from the left-hand menu.
4. Within stream settings, turn on Closed captions.
5. Choose “Automatic captions” as the captions source.
6. Select your video language (English only).

Troubleshoot live automatic captions

If the live stream doesn't show automatic captions, it could be due to one or more of the following reasons:

• The feature hasn’t been turned on for the channel, as we're slowly rolling out to channels with more than 1,000 subscribers.
• Channel is streaming in ultra low or low latency (such as a mobile live stream). Live automatic captions are only available for normal latency streaming.
• Automatic captions don't support the language in the video.
• The video has poor sound quality or YouTube doesn't recognize the speech.
• There are multiple speakers whose speech overlaps or multiple languages at the same time.

Automatic captioning advanced settings

The “Don’t show potentially inappropriate words” setting in YouTube Studio replaces potentially inappropriate words with an open bracket, two underscores, and a closed bracket “[ __ ]” by default in automatic captions. 

This setting doesn’t affect any audio tracks or manually edited captions. It's intended to help prevent potentially inappropriate words mistakenly appearing in automatic captions. It also doesn’t affect your video’s monetization status.

Automatic captioning applies to uploaded videos and live streams.

Here's how you can turn off the “Don’t show potentially inappropriate words” setting, if needed:

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Settings (gear icon).
3. Select Channel > Advanced settings.
4. Under the "Auto-generated captions," deselect Don’t show potentially inappropriate words.