How To Add Alt Text On Social Media

When people ask me if I have any tips for improving accessibility of social media posts, I like to ask them if they know how to add alt text on social media platforms. While a lot of people know how to add alt text on one or two platforms, the truth is that alt text has to be added manually across all social media platforms so that blind and visually impaired users can understand what is in an image. It only takes less than a minute to add alt text to social media posts, so it’s an easy way to ensure that audiences who use assistive technology are not excluded. Here are my tips for how to add alt text on social media for common platforms.

What is alt text?

Alt text tells people what is in an image, such as text or basic essential details. Many people with blindness, low vision, or other visual impairments use screen readers to access websites, applications, and documents. When the screen reader comes across an image, the alt text is read out loud to tell the person what the image is and what it looks like. Search engines also index alt text information and consider it a factor when determining search engine ratings.

While there are some applications that can generate automatic alt text, the most useful and meaningful alt text comes from people taking the time to write a short description (about 140 characters) and adding it to their social media posts.

Related links

• Alt Text category on Veronica With Four Eyes
• How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions for the Visually Impaired
• How To Write Alt Text For Digital Comics
• How To Write Alt Text For Memes
• How To Access Images Without Alt Text

Are alt text and image descriptions different?

An image description gives more details than alt text and allows someone to learn more about what is in an image that goes beyond alt text. Alt text gives the user the most important information while image descriptions provide further detail. For example, alt text tells someone that there’s a puddle on the floor, and image description tells someone that the puddle on the floor is in the middle of the floor and it is orange juice. A growing number of users will add both alt text and image descriptions to their posts, often putting the image description in the caption or comment section.

Related links

• Options For Writing Extended Image Descriptions On Social Media
• How To Write Image Descriptions About Online Products For Visual Impairment
• Writing Image Descriptions For Red Carpet Outfits
• How To Write Image Descriptions For Cosplay
• My Thoughts On Visual Descriptions With Low Vision

Twitter

Twitter supports alt text up to 1,000 characters, though alt text cannot be added or edited once an image or gif is posted.

To add alt text to Twitter posts:

1. Create a new tweet and attach an image or gif
2. Click “add description” underneath the image
3. Type alt text of your choice
4. Click “done” when finished

Alt text can be added to tweets that contain multiple images, though each image will need its own alt text.

Related links

• Accessibility And Low Vision Twitter Lists To Follow
• Twitter Accessibility Features For Low Vision
• How To Write Alt Text For Gifs
• Texting and Low Vision

Instagram

Instagram supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited once a picture is posted.

To add alt text to new Instagram posts:

1. Create a new post
2. Click “compose alt text” underneath advanced settings of the post
3. Type alt text of your choice
4. Click “done” when finished

To add alt text to existing Instagram posts:

1. Click on the three vertical dots at the top of the post
2. Click “edit”
3. Tap the “alt text” option that is directly on top of the photo, next to the “tag people” option.
4. Add your own alt text and save it to the photo

Related links

• How To Write Alt Text and Image Descriptions For Instagram
• Taking Selfies With Vision Loss
• How To Describe Flowers for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Facebook

Facebook supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited once a picture is posted.

To add alt text to new Facebook posts:

1. Create a new post and attach an image
2. Click “Edit Photo”, then click “Alt Text”
3. Automatically generated alt text will display on the left side of the image. This can be edited by selecting “override generated alt text”
4. After overriding generated alt text, type alt text of your choice
5. Click “save” when finished

To add alt text to existing Facebook posts:

1. Click the photo to open it.
2. Select “Options” in the bottom right and then select “Change Alt Text”
3. If needed, select “Override generated alt text” or change the alt text in the text box
4. Click “save” when finished

Related links

• Emoji and Low Vision
• How To Make ASCII/Emoji Memes Accessible For Visual Impairment

Tumblr

Tumblr supports alt text up to 200 characters, and alt text cannot be added or edited once a picture or gif is posted.

To add alt text to new Tumblr posts:

1. Create a new post and attach an image
2. Click on the three vertical dots in the lower right-hand corner of the post
3. Tap the “alt text” option
4. Add your own alt text and save it to the photo

Related links

• Tips For Creating Art For Visually Impaired Friends
• Creating Audio Description For Viral Videos With YouDescribe
• How To Make Tumblr Themes Accessible For Low Vision

Pinterest

Pinterest supports alt text up to 500 characters, and alt text can be added or edited after a static (image) or video pin is posted.

To add alt text to new Pinterest posts:

1. Create a new pin and attach an image or video
2. Add a title, description, and destination link- I recommend copy and pasting the alt text into the pin description
3. Select the publishing time for the new pin- publish it immediately or save/schedule it for later
4. The Alt Text field will become visible once the publishing time is set, and users can enter their desired alt text
5. Select a board for the pin and it will automatically save

To add or edit alt text on existing Pinterest posts:

1. Navigate to the pin that you want to add alt text to
2. Select Edit Pin
3. Add text to the Alt Text field
4. Tap Done to save changes

LinkedIn

LinkedIn supports alt text up to 120 characters, and alt text cannot be added or edited once a picture is posted. Alt text also cannot be added or edited on mobile apps.

To add alt text to new LinkedIn posts:

1. Create a new post and attach an image
2. Click on “add alt text” which can be found on the lower left side
3. Add your own alt text and save it to the photo

Related links

• How I Learned To Navigate My Internship Building With Low Vision
• Brainfuse Online Tutoring Review
• Hoonuit Free Technology Tutorials Review

Summary of how to add alt text on social media

• Alt text is a text-based description of images that is used by screen readers to describe what is in an image for people who cannot see it
• An image description gives more details than alt text and allows someone to learn more about what is in an image that goes beyond alt text, and is often included separately
• Twitter supports alt text up to 1,000 characters, though alt text cannot be added or edited after an image or gif is posted.
• Instagram supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited after a picture is posted.
• Facebook supports alt text up to 100 characters, and alt text can be added or edited after a picture is posted.
• Tumblr supports alt text up to 200 characters, and alt text cannot be added or edited after a picture or gif is posted.
• Pinterest supports alt text up to 500 characters, and alt text can be added to static/image or video pins after they are posted.
• LinkedIn supports alt text up to 120 characters, and alt text cannot be added or edited after a picture is posted