Category: Internal

Using Image Descriptions and Alt Text on Facebook and Twitter

Using Image Descriptions and Alt Text on Facebook and Twitter

Did you know you can edit the alt text on your Facebook and image descriptions for Twitter photos? It turns out, increasing the accessibility of the images you post may be easier than you think. This can be useful to consider if you aren’t explicitly describing what’s in the photo when you post. By making a few simple tweaks, you can really increase the access of your content.

Editing Alt Text on Facebook

To edit a photo you’ve already uploaded…Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 12.46.21 PM

  1. go to the photo and select options on the bottom right.
  2. Then select “Change Alt Text”.
  3. Click override automatically generated alt text.
  4. This will bring you to a section where you can change the automatically generated text (which is often a bit broad).

Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 12.46.13 PM

If you’re uploading a photo for the first time, click “Edit Photo” on the image and add the alt text as you’re creating the post.

 

 

Still have questions? This Facebook tutorial may help. 

 

Image Descriptions on Twitter

  • First step, make sure “Accessibility” image descriptions and video tweets is turned on under your settings.
  • Edit past images uploaded through your studio library on twitter.
  • When uploading an image add the description by clicking on the line under the image that explicitly says “add description”.

Accessibility settings in Twitter

image showing where to add a description

Remember, Keep your description/text brief: 
A question to ask yourself is– what is the main idea being expressed by the image? Your best bet is to describe it in simple language, keeping it brief and precise.  A few words or a short sentence should do the trick. If the image is simply decorative, you also have the option to leave out the alt text.  This is similar for when you’re posting a decorative image on the website but you don’t have to use <img src=”decorative.jpg” alt=“ ”>,  you can just leave blank.

Helpful resources:

 

What other ways to you help make social media accessible? Please let us know!

Goodbye “Use As My Page” – Hello Alternatives

Facebook recently removed the feature “Use as my page” which means that finding your feed and acting on Facebook as your page is still possible, but you’ll have to find it in a different way.

Q: Why don’t I see the the option to use Facebook as the Page I manage?

We’ve deprecated the ability to login and use Facebook as the Page you manage. However, we’ve built parallel features to enable you to do all of the same things you could previously do, without requiring you to use Facebook as your Page.

Q: How do I post to the Page I manage as my Page?

  1. Navigate to the Page you manage
  2. In the composer, you’ll see a small square image with either your Page’s profile picture or your personal profile picture. Click on the downward arrow next to this image. This will allow you to toggle between your personal profile and the Page(s) you manage.
  3. Select the icon of the Page you want to post as
  4. Hit publish

Q: How do I see My Page’s Newsfeed?

  1. Navigate to your Page
  2. Select “View Pages Feed” under your Page’s profile picture
    Note that the option to view the Pages Feed will only be visible if the Page you manage has liked other Pages.     See page feed

Q: How can I see my Page’s notifications?

  1. Navigate to your Page
  2. On the white navigation bar at the top of your Page, select “Notifications”

Q: How can I see my Page’s messages?

  1. Navigate to your Page
  2. On the white navigation bar at the top of your Page , select “Messages”

Q: How do I post to another Page as the Page I manage?

  1. Navigate to the Page you manage
  2. In the composer, you’ll see a small flag icon. Click on the icon. This will allow you to toggle between your personal profile and the Page(s) you manage.
  3. Select the icon of the Page you want to post as
  4. Post

Q: How do I like or comment on a post by my Page as the Page I manage?

  1. Navigate to the Page you manage
  2. Scroll to the post you wish to comment on
  3. On that post you’ll see a small square image with either your Page’s profile picture or your personal profile picture. Click on the downward arrow next to this image. This will allow you to toggle between your personal profile and the Page(s) you manage. Select the Page you wish to comment as.
  4. Comment on the post

Q: How do I like or comment on a post another Page has made as the Page I manage?

  1. Navigate to the Page with the post you wish to like or comment on
  2. Scroll to the post you wish to like or comment on
  3. Click on the flag icon on the bottom right side of the post
  4. Select the Page you want to comment or like as

Q: How do I like another Page as my Page?

  1. Navigate to the Page you wish to like
  2. In the cover photo next to the like and message options, click on “…”
  3. Select “Like as your Page”
  4. You’ll see a dropdown menu which will allow you to pick which of the Pages you manage to like this Page as

Q: To unlike a Page that the Page you manage likes:

  1. Navigate to the Page you wish to unlike
  2. In the cover photo next to the like and message options, click on “…”
  3. Select “Remove from my Page’s favorites”
  4. You’ll see a dropdown menu which will allow you to pick which of the Pages you manage you want to stop liking this Page

Improving Internal Communications with Social Media: Behave like a Beehive?

Note: Very few images show bees communicating so I went with the multi-bee approach. Forgive me!

Organizations can learn so much from insects– more specifically, bees. Bees have an amazing internal communication plan. They communicate with a dance and by releasing pheromones. They’ve even discovered how bees tell one another to stop collecting honey.

I think when it comes to social media, organizations should behave like bees and work to facilitate communication between staff. By improving internal communication, it would also allow organizations to let staff to go free and cultivate their own audiences (or flowers).  This brilliant plan of mine however, takes hard work on the side of internal communication so that goals and priorities can be met. Unlike bees, our priorities aren’t always to collect honey(or raise young, or guard the hive), they tend to differ between department are are extremely complex.

No matter the size of your nonprofit, sometimes internal communication falls to the wayside. Especially when you have  supporters who need your attention. The benefits of keeping internal communication strong though, is that you will provide BETTER information to your supporters while serving the community and the cause more effectively.

There are several ways to use social media to benefit internal communications. Many companies and organizations have an intranet or newsletter that regularly serves as a reminder of current projects and priorities. While these techniques are good, they are mostly one-way and offer little collaboration with sharing ideas, and offering fast and current updates that happen suddenly.

I’m going to share a few ways we use social media to improve internal communications at the National Wildlife Federation– but I encourage you to share your ideas as well.

Here’s a presentation Kristin Johnson and I did for the Social Media for Government Conference (we focused on the journey of discovering tools that facilitate communication!) :

Internally Facing

1. Google Chat or AIM – many of us at NWF use Google Talk or AIM to chat with coworkers, we still pick up the phone when needed, but chat allows us to answer quick questions AND document what’s said so that it could be used as a reference later.

2. Skype Chat – Skype was something we used more frequently a few years ago, but it’s a great way to create chat rooms that can be saved. Instead of conversations that are one on one (like in Google chat) we could hold greater discussions.

3. Yammer – Yammer is our internal “Twitter”, that allows us to update people and coordinate messages we tweet and prioritize. We also use it to ask questions and circle back on social media thoughts or resource sharing.

Externally Facing:

4. Twitter – Staff chat and support one another on Twitter, helping spread the news of important things and staying up to date on current events.

5. Facebook: Many staffers will also chat through Facebook chat as well as re-post updates that we see are interesting from our news feeds.

(Figure: NWF’s internal chat, Yammer)

http://www.google.com/talk/

We still have a long way to go when it comes to letting all of these tools talk to one another. There are new plugins and tools all the time. For example, Yammer can be integrated into your Outlook, Downloaded to your desktop or smart phone, and connected to your Google Talk. With all of these options (and you better believe I have all of them) — it can be hard to suggest what is the most useful because it differs for everyone. However, the import thing to know, is that the more we behave like bees, the happier I’ll BEE.