How to Make Your Social Media More Accessible for People With Hearing Loss
Have you ever watched a movie or show with closed captions? You might not have known this, but there’s a reason why they provide closed captions to viewers.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “approximately 15% of American adults (37.5 million) aged 18 and over report some trouble hearing."
Without captions, people who are deaf or hard of hearing can’t experience that movie or show to its fullest. That’s where closed captions come in.
The same can be said for social media. Have you ever posted a video online and been asked to add captions to your video? We sure have, and we want to share with you some helpful websites and how-to videos that helped us along the way.
STEP 1: CREATE AN SRT FILE FOR YOUR VIDEO
Before publishing any video on your social media, make sure you add closed captions. At Life Happens, we upload our videos to a software called Zubtitle. This software allows us to easily edit the timing and captions of our videos, customize our font color/size/type, and download SRT files (this benefit is important for later). You can also burn captions onto your videos, meaning that the caption text will stay there permanently.
What is an SRT file? It’s a file that includes the captions for your videos and the start and end timecodes for each caption on your video. It’s what allows your followers to toggle between viewing with closed captions or not. This file is important for Step 2!
STEP 2: ADD AN SRT FILE (OR CLOSED CAPTIONS) TO YOUR VIDEO NATIVELY ON EACH SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
YouTube
If you want to add closed captions directly in YouTube, you can do so natively without Zubtitle or other software programs. Learn how to create, edit and remove captions to your videos at YouTube’s Help Center.
If you do have an SRT file for your video, you can add that to your YouTube upload without having to edit the captions and start and end timecodes.
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Although you can’t create and edit captions directly in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (like you can on YouTube), you can upload closed captions to your video with an SRT file.
Want to learn about how to add an SRT file to your videos on each platform? Click the following platforms to read more:
Instagram is a bit different from the other platforms, in that it doesn’t support SRT files in the same way. To make your Instagram in-feed videos more accessible, you can either burn the captions onto your videos or turn on automatic captioning. Learn more about the process at Instagram’s Help Center.
When it comes to Instagram Stories, the process is even simpler. If you’re recording a video for your Instagram story, you can now add closed captions directly in the app. After you record your video, click the Sticker button, and then select “CC Captions.”
Together, we can make the world of social media more accessible for those who experience hearing loss. If you’re interested in sharing insurance related videos that have closed captions, visit Life Happens’ YouTube channel!
