Social Butterflies at National Convention

by the Communications Team

From the Editor: The Communications Team is headed by Stephanie Cascone, and serving with her on that team are our web guru, Alyssa Vetro; our director of public relations, Chris Danielsen; and our director of social media, Karen Anderson. I have the pleasure of getting to sit in on and contribute to the deliberations of the committee, which I value as a way to know more about what's going on and a way to get good ideas for the Braille Monitor. Here is what the team has to say about participating on social media during our 2019 National Convention:

Whether or not you consider yourself to be a social butterfly, national convention is one of the best opportunities for in-person engagement and connection with your Federation family. However, there is another way to also amplify the experience. If you’re attending national convention or unable to attend this year, connect with members, other attendees, and the session topics online through social media. Let’s leave the cocoon and explore the many blossoming platforms that you can land on to engage with us during convention.

Social media allows for our voices to be heard on digital public forums, although most can be also set to private, and it’s a way to have conversations with each other anywhere from a smartphone or desktop computer. Similar to butterflies, we can glide back and forth from different platforms as much or as little as we would like. Here is some general information about the various social media platforms:

Twitter

The idea behind Twitter is to say what you are thinking or doing very concisely, in 280 characters or less. When you sign up for Twitter, you’ll create a username or handle. This is what people will associate with you along with the name you list. For example, our National Federation of the Blind username is NFB_Voice. In your profile, you’ll be able to edit a little more information about yourself such as a brief bio, your picture, and your location. When you create a tweet, which is what posts are called on Twitter, it will be listed under your profile. By placing the @ symbol in front of a username, you can tag, or mention, another user in your tweet.

• A follower is someone who follows you on Twitter and sees your updates on their home feed, and you can follow people back to see their tweets in your home feed.     
• Your home timeline displays a stream of tweets from accounts you have chosen to follow on Twitter.
• Retweet (RT) is a way for someone to share a tweet from another user’s account.
• Hashtag is the act of using the # symbol in front of any word or phrase to tag your tweets. When someone clicks that hashtag, they see your tweet along with everyone else’s tweets using that same exact term.
• Alt-text for images—be sure to turn on the feature to compose image descriptions that can be found in settings. If you create a post with an image, a field will then populate to include the description.
• If you are using Twitter on your iPhone or Android, the Twitter app is fairly accessible. On iOS, Twitterrific is another popular app that has taken accessibility very seriously. On your desktop computer, you can use Twitter by going to the website twitter.com. You can also choose to download a client such as OpenTween or Chicken Nugget. Because of Twitter’s decisions about what to allow outside apps to access, these clients are not always up to date with your direct messages, but they do provide an ad-free and easy-to-access way of reading and writing tweets.

It is worth noting that we will be live-tweeting much of the 2019 National Convention, so make sure to follow us.

Facebook

Facebook is arguably the most popular social media platform. On it you can “friend” people you know and keep up with what they are doing, join groups related to things you are interested in, and follow the “pages” of companies and organizations you are interested in. For example, you can find us on Facebook by searching for “National Federation of the Blind.”  

If you are using an iOS or Android device to interact with Facebook, you should download the Facebook app. If you are using your desktop or laptop computer for Facebook, you use the website facebook.com. Alternatively, you can use m.facebook.com for a “lighter” experience. By lighter we mean fewer options as the downside but easier screens and more obvious options on the upside.

During the convention, there may be various times in which we Facebook Live. This is a video that is streaming on the platform that allows you to watch and comment. We’ll be sure to post the expected times prior to, so those at home or work can be ready.

Facebook has recently added the ability to add alt text to photos using the mobile app. To do this, create the post and share it. Once you have done that, find the post in your newsfeed and double tap on it. Double tap on the picture, and then double tap on “more.” In that menu you should find the option to edit alt text.

Instagram and LinkedIn

The newest flowers that we in the NFB are pollinating are Instagram (IG) and LinkedIn.  

Instagram is a primarily picture-based social media platform. While this doesn’t sound like something that will interest many blind people, the ability to add alt text to pictures was recently added, and this makes IG a much more enjoyable experience. There are also Instagram videos which can be enjoyable, so make sure to follow us @NFB_Voice.

LinkedIn is a great social media tool if you are looking for a job or if you are an employer looking to hire someone. The goal of LinkedIn is to connect people and to show off your resumé and experience.  

You can currently add alt text on LinkedIn only by using the desktop site. Once you have uploaded your image, click on “add description” to add alt text.

You can find us on LinkedIn by searching for National Federation of the Blind.

Flying Away

In conclusion, it would be great to connect on social media. If you’re new to it, it’s ok to give it a taste and see what you enjoy. Whether you choose one platform or all of them, social media can add value to your convention experience and might even help you meet people you had not met before. We look forward to strengthening connections and creating new ones through these various platforms.