Social Posts That Are Only a Picture of Words

A sale that exists only in a picture

A clothing shop announces its January clearance on Facebook and Twitter with a designed graphic. The discount, the dates, the hours and the address sit in large type over a photograph of the racks.

The post itself carries no words, or only the shop's name and a line saying "See you there."

The shop meant well. The graphic looks good, and posting one picture is quicker than writing the same details out again.

A blind follower may use a screen reader, a program that speaks the text on the screen. On this post it announces the shop's name, the time and a photo. Nothing about the sale.

What a screen reader can and cannot read

A screen reader reads text: posts, links, buttons and the descriptions written for images. Words drawn inside a picture are only coloured dots to the computer, so it has nothing to read.

On a website, each image can carry a short written description in its code, called alternative text, and the screen reader reads that instead. Facebook and Twitter give no place to type one.

On both networks, then, whatever sits inside the image is lost unless the same information appears in the words of the post.

Who else misses the words

• People who enlarge text, since words in an image blur when zoomed and do not rewrap to fit.
• Followers on a weak connection, who see the post long before the image arrives, if it arrives.
• Anyone skimming on a small phone, where a detailed graphic shrinks and the small print disappears.
• People searching Twitter, which finds words in tweets, not words inside images.
• Readers using a translation tool, which works on text and not on a picture.

A post that needs its picture to make sense reaches only the followers who can see that picture clearly, at full size, on a good connection.

The essentials go in the words

Write the post so it works with the picture hidden. Say what is happening, when and where, in plain sentences, then add a link to a page on your site with the details.

On Facebook there is room for all of it. Longer posts are cut short after the first few lines, so put the offer and the dates at the top.

The picture can still repeat the headline. It catches the eye in a busy feed; the words make sure nobody depends on it.

Fitting it into 140 characters

Twitter is tighter. A tweet allows 140 characters, and an attached photo takes up part of them, so the words have to be chosen with care.

Lead with the offer and the dates, then the place, then a link to the full details. Leave the hours and the fine print for the page the link opens.

Spell words out. Screen readers stumble over invented abbreviations, and a hashtag with every word capitalised is more likely to be read as separate words than as one long jumble.

Describing the picture when it matters

Some pictures carry meaning of their own: the new spring jackets, the window display, the room after a renovation. A short description in the post lets every follower share in it.

A line such as "Photo: the new rain jackets in navy and red on the front rack" takes seconds to write.

Graphics that only repeat the words already in the post need no description. The words have done the job.

A worked example

An executive search firm in Vancouver recruits senior managers for mid-sized companies around the province. It announces each new search on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Every announcement was a square graphic holding the role, the city, the salary range, the closing date and how to apply. The words of each post said only "New search" and linked to the home page.

A candidate who relies on a screen reader wrote to the firm asking what its posts said. Looking back, the firm found a year of posts that said nothing without their pictures.

Each post now leads with the role, the city and the closing date in words, and links to that search's own page, where the full description is text rather than a PDF.

The graphics stayed. They still catch the eye, but nobody needs them to learn what the role is or how to apply.

A page that holds the details

The link in each post should lead to a page on your own website where the details are written out: the offer, the dates, the hours, the address and any conditions.

On your own site, unlike on Facebook or Twitter, every image can carry alternative text. Write it for any image that shows something a visitor needs to know.

Avoid linking to the poster itself. A poster exported as a PDF often keeps its words as shapes rather than text, and a screen reader finds nothing there either.

Two tests for every post

Before posting, cover the picture and read the words alone. If they still tell a follower what, when and where, the post works for a screen reader and on a slow connection.

Then look at the picture without the words. If it still makes sense, it works as a thumbnail in a crowded feed. A good post passes both tests.

The counter-case

Plenty of posts are pictures with nothing to act on: a staff photo, a finished window, a dog asleep by the till. Little is lost when a screen reader passes over them.

A brief description is still a kindness there, but that is not where the problem lies.

The problem is the post asking followers to do something, by a date, at a place. That is information, and information belongs in words that every follower can reach.

A post that reads without its picture

1. Read the post with the picture covered.
2. Put the offer and dates in the first line.
3. Add the place and the hours.
4. Link to a page with the details in text.
5. Describe the picture when it shows something that matters.
6. Capitalise each word in a hashtag.
7. Keep the graphic's words few and large.

Step one catches nearly every problem. A post that makes no sense with its picture covered fails a screen reader user, a follower on a weak connection and anyone searching for it.

Newsletters that put their words inside pictures have a parallel problem, which Gmail now loads newsletter images itself takes up.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.