Try to be, and now, Twitter’s going to immediate you to do precisely that, with new pop-ups being proven to some customers alerting them to the advantages of different textual content summaries inside tweets.

As you possibly can see on this alert, Twitter’s seeking to get extra customers to contemplate including alt-text, by offering an explainer on why textual content descriptions of pictures are necessary, and the way they can assist extra individuals interact with their content material.

Textual content descriptions are a key instrument for visually impaired customers, with display readers in a position to talk these descriptions so as to add related context. Twitter customers are ready so as to add textual content descriptions to any uploaded picture or GIF, nevertheless it requires guide effort – therefore these new prompts.

Twitter’s been working to enhance its different textual content descriptions for a while, as a part of its broader efforts to enhance accessibility within the app.

Twitter added a devoted ‘+ALT’ button, displayed on the picture itself, again in 2020, in an effort to encourage extra consciousness of the choice. It up to date the function in March this yr, with a brand new ‘ALT’ badge now routinely added to photographs the place different textual content descriptions can be found.

Twitter’s additionally expanded its textual content description window to make them extra accessible.

Together, these have put considerably extra concentrate on alt textual content for tweeted pictures, although Twitter might go additional, by including auto-generated textual content descriptions the place alt textual content content material just isn’t obtainable for a picture.

That’s what Fb now makes use of, with its Automated Alt Textual content (AAT) course of facilitating the identification of objects inside posted pictures by way of machine studying course of.

It’s not excellent, nevertheless it helps to supply a greater expertise – and reasonably than hoping that customers will add their very own data when prompted, it ensures that there can be textual content descriptions obtainable for all content material.

Twitter’s prompts could assist to supply extra correct descriptions (possibly), however they gained’t be obtainable at scale, as customers can simply ignore the prompts and transfer on.

Possibly, the subsequent stage then is to maneuver into line with Meta’s method, in using automated object identification, which may even have expanded advantages in a spread of further purposes and processes.

Whether or not that’s a spotlight for Twitter or not is difficult to say, as nobody actually is aware of what the important thing developmental technique for the app can be transferring ahead, given the present possession confusion.

But when Twitter desires to take its accessibility instruments to the subsequent degree, this looks as if the plain step.

Twitter’s new alt textual content prompts are being rolled out to a small group of customers on iOS, Android, and internet from at present. Twitter will increase the prompts to extra customers over the approaching weeks.