Government Social Media & Communications Accessibility Checklist
Your IT team isn't the only one with an accessibility job. Whoever posts for your agency's social accounts does too, and most comms teams have never gotten a checklist for it.
Before You Post
Every image has alt text written for what it actually showsCritical
Not the platform's auto-generated description. A photo of a council meeting needs alt text describing who's in it and why it matters, the same standard as a website image.
Every video has captions, not just an auto-caption left unreviewedCritical
Auto-captions misread names, acronyms, and local place names constantly. Review and correct them before publishing, especially for anything with a call to action.
Hashtags use camel case: #CityCouncilMeeting, not #citycouncilmeeting
A screen reader parses camel-case hashtags as separate words. All lowercase reads as one long, often unpronounceable string.
Text-heavy graphics include the same text in the post caption
A flyer-style image announcing an event is invisible to a screen reader if the only copy of that information lives inside the image.
Emoji are used sparingly and never replace words
A string of emoji in place of a sentence gets read aloud literally, one icon name at a time, by most screen readers. Use them as accents, not as the message itself.
Links use descriptive text, not a bare shortened URL with no context
A caption that just drops a raw link gives a screen reader user nothing to go on about where it leads before they tap it.
Platform-Specific Notes
The core rules above hold everywhere. A few platform quirks are worth knowing before you post.
X (Twitter)
Alt text has to be added manually through the compose tool's image description field. It's a separate, extra step, not automatic, and it's skipped constantly.
Facebook auto-generates alt text by default, and it's rarely good enough on its own. Always overwrite it with the photo's actual context before publishing.
Supports manual alt text in advanced settings, one extra tap most agencies never find. Worth adding to your posting checklist as its own line item.
YouTube
Auto-captions exist but need a manual review pass. Government meeting recordings in particular are full of names, districts, and acronyms auto-caption tools get wrong.
Livestreams and Virtual Events
A live walkthrough of how WPPersona handles embedded video and transcripts is worth fifteen minutes if your agency streams meetings regularly.
Live captioning is enabled for any streamed public meetingCritical
A council meeting streamed with no live captions excludes deaf and hard-of-hearing residents from following a public process in real time, not after the fact.
A sign language interpreter is offered or available on request for high-attendance public hearings
Not every meeting needs one booked by default, but residents need a clear, published way to request one with reasonable notice.
The recording and a corrected transcript are posted within a set number of business days
A transcript cleaned up after the auto-caption pass serves residents who couldn't attend live and need an accurate record, not just a rough one.
When You Attach a Document
PDFs linked from social posts meet the same tagging standard as your websiteCritical
A PDF doesn't become exempt from WCAG because it was shared on Twitter instead of linked from the homepage. Same document, same rule.
Long documents get an HTML summary in the post or a linked web page, not just the raw file
A resident scrolling on a phone is unlikely to open and navigate a 40-page PDF from a social app. Give them the short version where they already are.
Ongoing
One person on the comms team owns this checklist, by name
Same principle as the rest of your accessibility program. A checklist nobody owns gets skipped the first busy week.
New hires on the comms team get a 15-minute walkthrough of this list
This isn't a one-time training. Turnover on comms teams is common, and the gap reopens every time someone new starts posting without it.
Related Reading
Fix the Alt Text Problem Once, Everywhere
WPPersona's Alt Text Manager drafts descriptions for images on your site. The same writing habit it builds carries straight into how your comms team captions social posts.
See Alt Text Manager