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IN TOUCH 鈥� Social Media Special

TX:听 07.09.2021听 2040-2100

PRESENTER:听 听听听听听听听听 PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:听 听听听听听听听听听 BETH HEMMINGS

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White

Good evening.听 [Clicking, pinging]听 The sound of social media.听 It鈥檚 only been around for just under 25 years but now it鈥檚 claimed there are more people using it across the globe than not.听 It鈥檚 become one of the most widely used methods for people to connect with each other, to send their thoughts and opinions out into the virtual abyss but also a platform where people can promote their businesses, it can even be used as an educational tool to create awareness, which is what quite a lot of visually impaired people are now doing.听 And it seems there鈥檚 plenty of demand for visually impaired content.听 For example, on the video sharing platform Tik Tok the hashtag visually impaired has over 75 million views, on Instagram the same hashtag has over a hundred thousand relevant posts which doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean it鈥檚 always accessible to blind and partially sighted people.

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But let鈥檚 meet some of the people who are using it to make sight problems better understood.听

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Emily Davison, aka fashioneyesta, as she is known online, began her social media career highlighting lifestyle, fashion and beauty.听 She鈥檚 now moved on to include some more social content.

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Davison aka faszhioneyesta

Hey guys, welcome back to my channel.听 So, today, I鈥檓 going to be talking about the subject of accessibility and if you鈥檙e an influencer or if you are trying to further your profile on social media then it鈥檚 important that you try and take steps to make your platforms as inclusive as you possibly can.

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White

So, Emily, first of all, remind us, what got you started expressing yourself on social media?听 You began with beauty and fashion really, didn鈥檛 you?

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Davison

Yeah, so I think I started with my blog, first and foremost, really before all the other platforms really started to take off, back in 2012, and a lot of people from the sighted community seemed to have this conception that people who can鈥檛 see don鈥檛 want to enjoy putting on makeup or select outfits and have fun with fashion and their own personal style.听 So, I wanted to just dispel that myth and then, I think it鈥檚 just gone on from there really and I鈥檓 massively into Instagram these days, as a way of being able to showcase my style with my outfits and that kind of thing and also making videos about disability on places like YouTube and Instagram as well.

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White

Something else we鈥檝e talked about recently has been the high unemployment rates amongst visually impaired people and I wondered, particularly with your beauty and fashion output, is this is a business opportunity for you as well?

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Davison

It has been fruitful and I have had freelance work off the back of it and I have had opportunities off the back of it.听 I wouldn鈥檛 say that I would rely on it solely as a business because I think that the industry can be very precarious and it can be fickle sometimes.听 I do have other employment.听 But I think, certainly, it is something that I want to continue to do as a side-line but certainly, I think, my kind of niche that I鈥檓 in you do get very lucky to be sent things, if you get noticed by brands and you get invited to nice events and that kind of thing.听 Certainly not as much over covid because obviously that鈥檚 not been possible but, for me, really, I have been lucky to be able to really have some lovely experiences.

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White

You work across quite a lot of platforms now, how do you find accessibility?

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Davison

So, I think it has improved over the years.听 There鈥檚 certainly more features now than there was. I think that they should remember the fact that certain elements of their platforms, especially Instagram, are very visual and why should that exclude someone with a visual impairment because they are as much entitled to use the platform as anyone else?听 And I think that there鈥檚 always been a bit of a kind of myth that 鈥� oh, why on earth, would someone who鈥檚 got sight loss want to go on Instagram because it鈥檚 very visual, for example, and you know I can see why people who aren鈥檛 educated would have that argument but I think that having these features and continuing to expand on these features is just going to help the platform in the long run and I think why wouldn鈥檛 you, as a platform, want to showcase yourself as a platform that cares about accessibility and actually wants to welcome people with different disabilities to your platforms because disabled content creators are increasingly 鈥� increasingly more popular, there are a lot more than there was when I first started and their content is popular, people want to watch it.听 So, if you鈥檙e making a platform that is accessible then they鈥檙e going to use their platforms and then bring their following to that platform.听 So, it really is a no brainer to be honest.

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White

Emily Davison, thank you very much indeed.听 And we should give you your proper social media handle which is fashioneyesta, thank you.

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Now Emily, primarily, uses Instagram and YouTube for her content but someone who uses the video sharing platform Tik Tok to spread awareness is Martin Ralfe.

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Ralfe

Generally speaking, I seem to get a quicker response in terms of reach and engagement, as well, on Tik Tok and the ability to reach more people meant there was more questions coming to me, I could actually do more sensical videos and reactions to.

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White

And you were looking to, if you like, do a bit of education with this, I mean tell me the kind of videos that you were making.

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Ralfe

In terms of what my content has definitely grown into is a lot more educational and purposeful, meaningful content.听 For example, educational ones around guide dogs, also my son, baby Leo, was born with cataracts and Microphthalmia and a few other things, so we鈥檝e been featuring a lot of that type of content.听 And here鈥檚 one example of my guide dog navigating some wheelie bins recently.

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Tik Tok 鈥� Guide dog navigating wheelie bins

Guide dog avoiding obstacles and a car.

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In this clip you can see how Diesel nicely navigates a set of wheelie bins whilst also stops, as he is unsure what this car is doing.听 Guide dog owners are always taught that if you can hear a car, stop, until you know the vehicle is clear and you can proceed safely.

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White

Martin, were you surprised at the size of the response you got to these kinds of videos?

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Ralfe

Yeah, yeah.听 There鈥檚 one video of me carrying baby Leo in a baby carrier, I filmed it for a bit of confidence boost and then when I put it on social media that video has reached like half a million people on Tik Tok, Instagram 鈥� can鈥檛 remember, it鈥檚 in the thousands and similar with Facebook.听 But it is overwhelming, to say the least, that people are interested.听 You always get that divide of actually do people want to see this and then when you see those numbers and those reactions it鈥檚 really reassuring that people are interested.

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White

But, of course, not all social media response is actually positive, is it and, you know, there are the so-called keyboard warriors and you鈥檝e had that kind of response as well, I think.

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Ralfe

Yeah, that would be correct in saying that but, to be fair, as the community around my Tik Tok presence rose and the community engages with them before I even get chance.听 So, there was a comment recently 鈥� how can you do voiceovers if you don鈥檛 even know where you鈥檙e going 鈥� or 鈥� how can you get a dog that does that if you can see everything that鈥檚 going on around you.听 And yeah, just casting aspersions really and making their own judgement calls.听 So, I didn鈥檛 even have to defend myself, it was really, really cool to see.听 So, it does happen but the community has reacted ever so strongly against any negative comments on those videos.

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White

So, I think you have used other platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, from time to time, how accessible do you find those platforms and what would you like to see change, maybe to make them easier for you to use?

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Ralfe

Facebook and Instagram are accessible, within reason and you鈥檙e able to consume content, publish content and things like that.听 And generally straightforward to a degree.听 And if you don鈥檛 know how to use it, there鈥檚 someone near by you that will.听 Whereas some of the issues I鈥檝e seen with Facebook, Instagram, in particular, is accessibility will work really, really well and then after an app update something will just go wrong and then you can鈥檛 interact with pictures or you鈥檙e not getting voiceover labels.听 And what concerns me is, yes, these platforms and tools claim to be accessible and inclusive for everyone but it just worries me whereabout on the agenda is accessibility, yes it鈥檚 at the top, that鈥檚 brilliant to hear but in practice when you see these app updates rollout and actually voiceover then stops working for somebody and they can鈥檛 interact with their community, what does that really say about the testing algorithms and what does that say about user acceptance testing?

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White

So, is there any advice particularly you鈥檇 give to someone wanting to create content on social media or indeed for people who have basic social media skills?

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Ralfe

Yeah, do it, honestly, do it.听 That is, honestly, the only advice I can give because you will find your own medium, you鈥檒l find what sits right with you in your niche or respectively what personalities you connect with on social.听 Because people sometimes get mixed up that you鈥檝e got to be an influencer or you鈥檝e got to be able to do this, you鈥檝e got to be able to sell a product to do well on social.听 I鈥檝e learnt that鈥檚 not the case, you鈥檝e just got to be yourself 鈥� pick up a camera and give it a go, you never know.

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White

Martin, thank you very much indeed.听 And if you want to find Martin you just search for him under Martin Ralfe on social media.

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Martin and Emily, and people like them, have really embraced social media but if, at this point, you鈥檙e thinking 鈥� whoa, Peter, I don鈥檛 know the first thing about using social media like these people 鈥� you鈥檙e not alone.听

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Christine Ward emailed us to ask for our help to find some sort of specific social media training.听 Well, we鈥檝e searched and so far as we can make out none of the big name sight loss charities are offering a specific social media tuition programme.听 Some do offer general tech training and they鈥檝e said they would offer social media training if it was requested.听 But after all we are In Touch, so we have tried to come up with some solutions for you.

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Our reporter, Fern Lulham, has pieced together some social media help and advice.

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Lulham

How do you feel when you hear something like this 鈥� [ping] 鈥� does it send you scrambling for your phone or fill you with anxious dread?听 As a blind user of social media myself, I鈥檝e definitely learnt some tricks to make using it more accessible.

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Hey Siri, open Instagram.

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Siri

Request sent.

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Lulham

As a huge part of social media revolves around sharing photos, most apps now have an alt text feature, which means that when you tap on an image which includes alt text your phone can read you a description of what鈥檚 in it.听 Let鈥檚 try this one.

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Siri

Image shows golden Labrador guide dog Nancy, wearing a bright green harness.

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Lulham

Yes, that鈥檚 you.

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Another accessibility feature, which I find really handy, is dark mode.听 This is where the colours on the screen are reversed, so there鈥檚 white text against a black background, providing better contrast for those with a little remaining vision.听 This can usually be found in the app settings.听

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And platforms like Facebook and Instagram have now introduced audio messaging, where you can simply use your voice instead of having to type.

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Okay, let me press record. 鈥淐an you pick me up something sweet on the way home?听 Thanks babe, love you.鈥�

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If you鈥檝e never used social media before and need some extra help getting started there are people on hand.听 I spoke to AbilityNet鈥檚 community relationship officer Chris Grant to find out more.

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Grant

Throughout the pandemic we鈥檝e been getting a lot of inquiries around how can we create a social media presence, how can we send people friend requests, so we try and support anyone with a visual impairment by providing a volunteer to help them, either at the person鈥檚 house, at a restaurant, library, wherever they feel most comfortable.听 Volunteers could provide support by telephone but then they could also provide the support by connecting into the person鈥檚 device.听 All of our volunteers are DBS checked.听 It鈥檚 not just about rushing in and showing someone how to use social media, it鈥檚 taking it baby steps.听 So, some might take it in much quicker, some might take it in quite slowly, it just depends on that individual.

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Lulham

And what are the main things that visually impaired people struggle with when using social media in your experience?

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Grant

We鈥檙e getting folks saying that they struggle with uploading photos if they鈥檙e out and about, so we try and look at shortcuts on their mobile device or their tablet or their laptop of how they can kind of easily do this.

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Lulham

Do you give any advice on coping with trolls or people who are just trying to say nasty things and put you off?

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Grant

Don鈥檛 bite.听 If they start giving you abuse block them immediately. Facebook and Twitter are very good when it comes to bullying and they take it very serious, so report it to them.

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Lulham

Well, I hope you were able to follow all of that and when it comes to social media you can find something you really 鈥榣ike鈥�.

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White

Fern Lulham, thank you very much indeed.听 And we hope that that鈥檚 provided, at least, some sort of help or reassurance in navigating the social media world.听

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Well, we鈥檙e now going to talk to the people who are in charge of ensuring that the two most popular social media platforms are easier for you to use with Facebook and Instagram鈥檚 head of accessibility Mike Shebanek, who joins us from Silicon Valley.

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Mike, I mean just explain, is there a danger that a medium like Instagram, because it is, essentially, visual, people will think, you know, why should we be considering people who essentially want ways round the visual?

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Shebanek

It鈥檚 really important to understand that everybody wants to participate, everybody wants to be included and the visual mediums are super important.听 So, we want to make sure those are accessible to people as well and, in fact, we鈥檝e created a technology called 鈥榓utomatic alt text鈥�, this is a technology that Facebook created that鈥檚 based on artificial intelligence and computer vision, some fancy technologies, recognising over 1200 different concepts and objects in photographs.听 So, when people are using a screen reader, they can access that information for all of those images that get uploaded and those are millions and millions of images a day.听 Even if someone who uploaded that image doesn鈥檛 include the alt text.

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White

That was the question I wanted to ask you 鈥� does it depend on people actually deciding to use that because some people have said to us, it鈥檚 fine but couldn鈥檛 you be slightly more insistent about people using that?

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Shebanek

Well, we certainly make it possible for people to add that alt text themselves, so there鈥檚 multiple places and different products and parts of the apps where people can add that alt text and we encourage people to do that anytime they upload an image.听 But what we also recognise is that not everyone is as aware of alt text or perhaps even good at writing the alt text and we didn鈥檛 want that to be a hindrance to people who need it and so we created technology that would fill in that gap.

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White

Some people have suggested to us that there are a lot of really good things on Instagram, things are introduced, but then when an app is upgraded sometimes the visibility is lost, the accessibility is lost 鈥� is that something you recognise?

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Shebanek

Yeah, I think any time you talk about software development or technology, I mean advances are taking rapidly, and we recognise that things sometimes will regress.听 So, we鈥檒l putting in place a bunch of systems and processes at Facebook and Instagram to help mitigate that, to make things more consistent and more reliable.听 So, we have a system, internally, that we call MVA, that鈥檚 just a fancy acronym for let鈥檚 make sure that things work for people with disabilities and that starts with something that the technology industry calls the product accessibility lifecycle.听 Effectively, what that means is that we start by listening, we start by understanding what people want, what people need, what things are working, what things are not and some of that鈥檚 done on a personal level, some of it鈥檚 done through research, through user studies, by working with disability groups and advocates, even disability influencers on Instagram and Facebook.听 And so that leads us to design and so we talk a lot with our designers about like how do we solve this problem and design well so that things are more universal.听 We want our designers and our engineers, our writers, our product testers, we want everybody to be thinking about inclusion and disability throughout the entire process.听

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It鈥檚 a team that puts these products together and so, we鈥檝e actually created training for all of these different roles within our company.听 I think one of the things that鈥檚 probably not well understood by most people is that accessibility is not taught in higher education, so if you come with a degree in computer science or engineering or marketing or management, the chances of you having a course in accessibility and understanding the fundamentals is pretty low.听 And so, companies like Facebook have had to train people as they come into the company on what the state of the art is, how do we do this work, how do we ensure that this is done in every new product.听 And, in fact, not only are we training everybody in our own company, we鈥檝e produced training for people outside the company, we want to make a change globally.听 So, Facebook is one of the co-founders of an organisation called teachaccess.org and that organisation is a collaboration between academia and industry and disability advocates to bring the best practices, the best knowledge of accessible design practice back into higher education, so that new graduates that are going to be coming into these companies throughout the industry will be better prepared and able to make products be born accessible, when they start.

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White

Mike Shebanek, thank you very much indeed.

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And that鈥檚 about all for today.听 If you鈥檇 like to share your experiences of social media, you can send us an email on intouch@bbc.co.uk, you can leave a voice message on 0161 8361338 or you can visit our website, where you can download tonight鈥檚 and previous editions of the programme.听

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That鈥檚 it from me, Peter White, producer Beth Hemmings and studio managers Sharon Hughes and Jonathan Esp.听 Goodbye.

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