When Twitter announced in March 2016 that they were supporting alternative text for images, Twitter users celebrated the news.
With the release of alternative text for images, visual content on Twitter was more accessible to people who are visually impaired or blind.
I was thrilled to share the news about Twitter’s alternative text for images.
At the end of my post, I commented that third-party apps wouldn’t be far behind in providing alternative text support.
What About Buffer and Hootsuite?
Given Twitter’s new alternative text feature, it didn’t take long for users of Buffer and Hootsuite, two social media applications for publishing posts, to start discussing and asking when alternative text would be added to their apps.
I was one of them! I use both applications in addition to Twitter.
@alpuzz Isn’t it? Can’t wait for @buffer and @Hootsuite_Help to add alt text for images to their applications!
— DeborahEdwards-Onoro (@redcrew) May 27, 2016
@emplums hi again Emily! Quick question – does Buffer plan to support alt text for images? @jakobrosin @simonsbart
— Carine Marzin (@CarineMarzin) June 9, 2016
Support teams from Buffer and Hootsuite replied quickly to questions, asking about alternative text for images and the new feature in Twitter.
But no commitments were made about when alternative text would be added to either application.
Vote for Alternative Text
Thanks to Dennis Deacon’s conversation with Hootsuite Help, I discovered a request for alternative text for images in Hootsuite was submitted in May 2014.
Users could upvote a requested feature for Hootsuite. With close to 100 votes for the feature, it looked promising to me that Hootsuite would consider adding alternative text for images.
Similar to Hootsuite, Buffer also had a feedback voting system to submit and vote on new features. A request for adding alternative text for images to Buffer was submitted in July 2015.
Buffer Moves Forward
I began to ask Buffer monthly about the status for adding alternative text.
And in August 2016, I heard back from Emily Plummer, a front end engineer at Buffer.
@redcrew @buffer @3playmedia it’s being built as we speak!
— emily (@emplums) August 30, 2016
Plummer wasn’t able to share any timeline or roadmap at that time, but yesterday she tweeted that their team had a solution close at hand for Buffer.
@CarineMarzin @redcrew @buffer We’ve got a solution close to ready on our end, just waiting for final design finishing touches
— emily (@emplums) November 15, 2016
And more good news! Buffer was adding the alternative text for images to their roadmap.
@redcrew @CarineMarzin @buffer here’s that roadmap! 🙂 https://t.co/hD9v7iXiDe
— emily (@emplums) November 15, 2016
Woohoo!
Thanks @redcrew yes I am a big fan of @buffer they understand that they need to improve #a11y & are making the effort to do so @emplums
— Neil Milliken (@NeilMilliken) November 16, 2016
What about Hootsuite?
Hootsuite Has No Roadmap for Alternative Text
Last month when I contacted Hootsuite Help on their forum, I was excited to learn that alternative text was a planned feature for an upcoming release.
As it turns out, this was added as a request on our internal feature request forum and is tagged as a planned feature.
Unfortunately, after further conversations with Hootsuite Help yesterday, I learned that alternative text was not included in their roadmap.
I’ve asked Hootsuite (again) about how it could be added to their roadmap, but haven’t yet received a response.
Summary
Though both Buffer and Hootsuite have received multiple requests for adding alternative text to images, the Buffer team is the only one moving forward on implementing alternative text in their application.
Buffer has added alternative text to their roadmap, but no timeline has been provided.
If you’re a Hootsuite user, you may want to contact them about their plans for alternative text.
https://twitter.com/sarahebourne/status/798935466485628928
