How To Create Accessible Social Media Content (Part 3)

This is the 3rd top tip for creating accessible social media content that helps you reach a wider audience and makes you a disability-inclusive ally.

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Lilly is holding her hands out, thinking about happy, angry, love, in-love emojis

Here we go.

The final accessibility tip to celebrate my new newsletter (quite a mouthful, eh?).

Woohoo!

We all love a little sprinkle of emotion in our text and emojis?

Well, they’re the perfect bite-sized boost of feeling.

And, technically emojis are accessible.

But there's a catch.

Because screen readers read them out loud, how you use them really does matter.

Here’s why:

Each emoji comes with a Unicode string—that’s the official description (alt text if you will) tied to the emoji. It’s what screen readers use to tell people with visual disabilities what’s on the screen.

So if you add, say, the poo emoji 5 times… the screen reader says “pile of poo” five times.

Not exactly what you were going for, right?

So how do you keep your emojis friendly and accessible?

Here are 7 tips:

1. Use them in moderation.

2. Pop them in at the end of a sentence or paragraph.

3. Skip long emoji strings (no poop parades, please).

4. Don’t use emojis to replace words—just to add a little sparkle.

5. Make sure they match what you’re trying to express.

6. Check their descriptions—emoji meanings can vary depending on the platform.

7. If you’re using customisable emojis (like skin tones), remember it adds extra info for screen readers. Keep it simple when clarity is key.

Pro tip: Head to emojipedia.org to check what your emoji actually says out loud.

Emojis are fun—but inclusive fun is the best kind.

What’s your favourite emoji?

Stay bright.
Lia 💌