Social Media Accessibility

Why Social Media Accessibility is Important:

As public higher education communicators, it is our responsibility to ensure that every piece of content we publish on social media is accessible and consumable for our entire community. This matters because ensuring the accessibility of our content means we are being inclusive, and everyone who wants to be part of our UC Davis social media community can be.

As a public institution in California, it is the law for us to ensure that all of our digital content is accessible according to the California Government Code Sections 7405 and 11135 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 or a subsequent version.

We strive to build content that goes beyond legal requirements, aligning with our UC Davis Principles of Community by implementing the best practices for accessibility. We do this because accessible social media content benefits every Aggie.

We know that social media platforms change daily, and sometimes, it is really hard to keep up. On our general guidelines, social media accessibility checklist table, and platform pages, we have mapped what you need to know about accessibility best practices and resources to make sure you are creating the most accessible social media content for your community.

Accessibility Checklist Table

To help keep communicators accountable, including ourselves, we have created the Accessibility Checklist Table so that whenever you’re creating content, you can check to ensure you are adhering to as many accessibility practices as possible.

View Accessibility Checklist Table

General Social Media Accessibility Guidelines

The following best practices are general guidelines that anyone, including UC Davis staff, faculty, or students, can apply widely to their department or personal social media content. We are providing general guidelines because social media platforms do not always have simple instructions and functions for creating accessible content. Below are social media accessibility best practices and general information that should be understood and implemented when posting on behalf of any UC Davis account across any social media platform.

When creating accessible social media content, think about how different people with different abilities and preferences consume the same content. One person could be using assistive technology to scroll through the @UCDavis Instagram on their desktop, while another is browsing the same Instagram on their phone without assistive technology. Another person with a hearing disability relies on captions to understand a research video, while another person finds captions distracting from their video consumption experience. Not one scenario is more important than the other, so our guidelines prioritize creating content that strives to accommodate as many people as possible.

To learn about the best accessibility practices by individual social media platforms, visit Social Media Platform Guides.