As the AbilityNet report correctly flagged there are issues with social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Most notably of all is CAPTCHA which I have blogged about on this site. These have proven annoying barriers for some users. Interestingly I noticed on the BCAB mailing list that comments had been made about them bringing in an audio alternative. While not perfect by any means this is an improvement and the person in question was happy they could finally get on Facebook and join the Visually Impaired Users Group.

We decided to go with the decision because all content published on Facebook and Twitter is simply a replication of what is already available in the blog and via RSS feeds. We thought it a good way of keeping in touch with people who preferred those channels. As you know we also have a campaigning role so the Facebook page and Tweets I hope will raise awareness amongst people we’ve not yet reached - just as the Visually Impaired Users Group does.

Finally we did do some testing of Facebook as well as ask current users, specifically screen reader users, what they think. So it wasn’t without investigation that we went down this route.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Just out of cheeky interest - AbilityNet’s report on the accessibility of social networking sites suggested that they all had accessibility issues - has this created any issues for yourselves either when Facebooking or twittering?