Overview of UFIT Social Media Management
The official UF Information Technology social media channels – YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook—are managed by UFIT Communications. Suggested content may be sent to
it-comm@ufl.edu. (Please clear content suggestions with your director prior to emailing them).
The channels are managed and tracked by IT-Comm staff, who report on engagement, trends, and conduct a peer review each month of fellow top-10 publics. Anyone wanting to create an officially-sanctioned UFIT social media channel should contact IT-Comm to discuss needs.
IT-Communications staff strive to make UFIT social media content as accessible as possible (ADA compliance). IT-Comm staff adhere to these accessible social media guidelines as much as possible when posting content. All UFIT staff are encouraged to think about accessibility when publishing to their unit or personal websites and social media accounts. UFIT Web Services has accessibility recommendations on their site, and IT-Comm welcomes any questions about accessibility on social media.
Creating Accessible Social Media Content
Although you may not be creating social media for an official UF account, if you have an Instagram, Twitch, Twitter, or other account, you might share information about UFIT services or events. It’s always great to have social media advocates among the ranks…thank you! But remember when representing UF in any way—i.e., sharing social media content about UF/UFIT—you should always take steps to ensure content is accessible. Here are some tips:
Alt-texting of Photos
When alt-text is used on an image in social media, it means that a description about the image was added to aid anyone using an accessibility device to consume your content. In the example below used on UFIT’s Twitter account, the black ALT box in the bottom left corner means that Alt-text was successfully applied to the image. A person using an accessibility device would get the following text read to them when hovering over this image: “Close-up photo of a two-factor login push notification on a Smartphone device at the University of Florida.”
Alt-texting helps give everyone the opportunity to fully experience content online. It’s the right thing to do!
Accessibility Help – Social Media Channels
Most social media companies have a page explaining how to make content accessible on their channel. While not complete (each channel has significant drawbacks to meeting accessibility standards) we all have an obligation to do what we can. Here are some of the most-used social media companies at UF and links to accessibility for their channel:
- Twitter Accessibility Feature – Images Only
- Facebook Accessibility Hints
- Instagram Accessibility Feature – Images Only
- Making Videos Posted on YouTube Accessible
- Making TikTok Content Accessible
Helpful Hints – Graphics and Emojis
Try and stay away from very busy images or graphics on social media. Complicated visuals may make it more difficult for assisted devices to decipher content.
Emojis are fun, but… emojis in social media still have to be described by a screen reader. The 👏 emoji, for example, will be read aloud as “clapping hands.” But others are harder for devices. Consider the experience of a screen reader user when encountering a “shruggie” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯: This will be read aloud by a device as: “Macron, backslash, underline, katakana, underline, slash, macron.” And for that we say…☹