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Silicon Valley (415) 975-8000 www.ssbbartgroup.com Washington DC (703) 637-8955
SSB BART Group Presents:
Accessible Social Media
Debra Ruh, Chief Marketing Officer
Mary Smith, Chief Operating Officer
www.ssbbartgroup.com
Introduction
Founded in 1997, SSB BART Group helps companies implement
accessibility throughout their Information Communication Technology
(ICT) systems - including Web sites, Web applications, software,
hardware, and IT services - making them accessible to everyone,
including people with disabilities.
Our team includes industry leading accessibility experts who have the
experience and expertise to provide the guidance necessary to meet
organizations Accessibility compliance goals. Our diverse team of
engineers, programmers, and consultants, many of whom have
disabilities themselves, provide a real edge in identifying needs and
issues, and effectively testing and creating products and services with
accessibility and usability in mind.
Becoming SSB BART Group
In 2005, SSB Technologies merged with the BART Group to form SSB
BART Group combining the strengths and experience of the two
organizations in both the public and private sectors. This strategic
partnership secured SSB BART Group as a leader in the IT
accessibility marketplace.
Early in 2011, SSB BART Group SSB developed a strategic partnership
with and acquired the right to use certain portions of TecAccess, LLC.
This partnership enhances the SSB service offerings to include
diversity programs to support organizations enterprise infrastructure
and management services. These services focus on three key areas –
recruiting, provisioning and community outreach. • Recruiting services provide the guidance and program support to finding qualified individuals
with disabilities that can perform jobs within a organization.
• Provisioning services ensure that people with disabilities can succeed in their jobs. This
includes SSB’s historic focus – ensuring that IT systems are accessible to people with
disabilities.
• Community outreach ensures that organizations that develop programs to support the hiring of
employees with individuals are recognized by regulatory agencies and by advocacy groups in
the community – ensuring the market gives credit where credit is due.
Our Business Model
SSB Bart Group (SSB) and TecAccess employ a diverse and skilled team of
professionals from around the world, many of whom have disabilities, to help
organizations address the growing disability market.
SSB offers a full suite of accessibility and disability awareness solutions from the
top down.
We realistically evaluate accessibility, usability, employment, and marketing from
the perspective of people with disabilities.
Our award-winning consultancy helps clients:
o meet their immediate and long-term
accessibility goals
o increase their profitability and fiscal
efficiency*
o widen their customer base to include
people with disabilities, senior citizens, and
the growing “Baby Boomer” population. •Rosemary Musachio, TecAccess, SSB Bart Group Team Members
Consider This…
Right now someone is
likely to be “Tweeting”
about your company
Right now someone is
likely to be blogging about
your services
Right now someone is
likely to be talking about
us in an online social
forum
•NEWS FLASH!
•6
Understanding The Terms
What is social media/emerging
media?
The use of telecommunications to
interact with others online through
the sharing of words, pictures,
video and audio.
Begins with a virtual representation
of each user (a profile), his/her
social links, and a variety of
additional personal/professional
information
Networks become richer with more
personal connections and more
diverse ways to spread and gather
information
How Social Media Impacts Everyone
Social Media technology and
People with Disabilities (PwD)
PCs, mobile devices and assistive
technology improvements.
Increased usage for all, especially
PwD
Businesses are waking up to the
market opportunity
Major Accessibility Challenges
Opportunities for our community
Social Media: 10 yrs old & growing
Though online social platforms such as chat rooms or
message boards have been around for decades, it’s been
only recently that they’ve found mainstream reception.
Most came online around 2004 and 2005.
Facebook: Over a billion users by the end of 2012
YouTube: Hundreds of millions users, 2 billion videos watched daily.
24 hours of video uploaded per minute.
Twitter: 400 million users as of September 2012
LinkedIn: 100+ million users, mostly business-oriented as of July
2012
Pinterest: 10.4 million users mostly women as of Feb 2012
Beyond Facebook: What’s new?
Mobility
The “third screen” increases accessibility to Web
Analysts predict that by 2015 that more users will connect
to the Internet over mobile devices than on PCs
Integration
Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are
trickling into other websites, from news outlets to blogs,
creating a “network beyond the networks”
Location services
Social networks are finding ways to play a role in daily life
with technologies that help you while on-the-go
The Future…
Despite some obstacles, PwD are extremely
involved
More and more involvement due to technology
improvements
Growing awareness – millions of users /
customers
Mobility and other barriers to interaction do not
preclude inclusion any longer
Here comes the Big Boom…
This is clearly not your father’s
Oldsmobile!
More than 60% of Baby Boomers already
use social media - and growing
76 million in the Baby Boomer generation,
a very social bunch
New expectations by the Boomer
generation about remaining involved,
plugged in
How do I begin marketing myself?
Social media is about conversations and networking.
You need a game plan. Decide what you want to
accomplish. Are you looking for a job? Do you want
to change careers? What are you passionate about?
Do you want to become a Thought Leader?
Find the conversations to join. For example, if you’re
targeting people in business or specific careers or
jobs, then LinkedIn is possibly the best place to start.
Good way to proceed is to look for groups: are the
active groups on the social site interested in what you
can help with? If so, then potentially that is a good
place to start.
Connectivity – Social Media 101
Connectivity – Is there a magic number of followers?
It is quality of quantity. There is no magic number of
followers instead who are reaching.
Are they people that can help? Maybe they can give
you projects or assignments? If you are blogging are
people retweeting, liking or commenting on your
blogs?
The more you can build contacts, the easier it will be
to become a Thought Leader. Be sure to showcase
your talent in many places.
Return of Your Investment
Return – There is little to no cost to brand yourself
with social media. The biggest investment is your
time.
Your time is just as important, though, so don’t
discount it. Don’t expect to make a ton of money right
away, no matter what you are doing.
Return can mean more than just dollars in your
pocket. Return can be about those people who
continue to “return” to see what you are up to because
they appreciate what you do. Again, notoriety and
identification can be this measure of success.
Be a Thought Leader
Thought Leader –I am a better writer as a result of my
blogging, and social media has really come to show
me that there are a lot of other people out there like
me, and that I can learn from them.
Nobody ever got anywhere without failing once or
twice, so don’t get discouraged. You’ll only get better,
and that in itself makes the journey worth it.
Follow your PASSION. If you are passionate about
something blog about it, send articles, retweet, reblog,
and become part of the conversation.
Looking at Platforms…
Let’s take a look at current trends
and future projections
As we scroll through the next
slides let’s have a discussion
about how each of these new
technologies can impact both your
business environment and your
quest to hire and communicate
with customers with disabilities
Mobility
49 million people in the U.S. owned
smartphones in May, up 8.1 percent from
three months earlier. Led by BlackBerry,
Apple, Microsoft and Google’s Android
operating systems. Of those users:
32 percent browse the Internet
30 percent use apps
21 percent access social media sites or
blogs
The majority of usage is data/text, not
phone service
Integration
Facebook now allows websites to integrate it into
their own blogs or websites. It works best on sites
with frequently updated content. How?
“Like”/“Recommend” button: Lets visitors to your site/blog “like” or
recommend an article, video or other content and comment on it
Visitor activity is shown on their Facebook page and others’ News
Feeds, expanding your distribution network
Integration
Customized Landing Pages
Best of all – a portion of Fan Pages
can be made accessible by recoding
your Facebook tabs
Embed accessibility best practices
using FBML (Facebook Markup
Language)
Location-Based Services
Location services let
people with a mobile
device (iPhone,
BlackBerry, Android)
“check in” at
businesses, events and
more.
Users earn badges and
keep a running tab on
places they visit, can
see who else is nearby,
learn about deals and
get tips from others who
have been there before.
Location-Based Services
Most popular location-based service is
Foursquare. Others include Gowalla and Google
Latitude
Many businesses have deals for Foursquare
users, such as customer loyalty reward
opportunities
Users can also leave behind “tips” on a
business’ venue page created by the community.
Tips can include recommendations, reviews, and
even accessibility comments
Twitter…more than getting glass of milk
Allows users to send 140-
character updates, share
links, get breaking news
updates, and more: No account necessary to use for
search
News breaks on Twitter before
going mainstream
Influencers from all industries are
active on Twitter
Longer Tweets with Deck.ly
Twitter Accessible Options
Where The Ladies At? Pinterest. 2 Million Daily Facebook
Users, 97% Of Fans Are Women
Pinterest now has over 10.4 million registered users, 9 million
monthly Facebook-connected users, and 2 million daily
Facebook users, according to Inside
Network’s AppData tracking service.
With gorgeous photography, and links to travel and shopping,
Pinterest is becoming an obsession for flocks of women.
AppData and Facebook’s advertising tool show that over 97%
of Pinterest’s Facebook fans are women.
The stunningly feminine fan base could be a telling proxy for
Pinterest’s actual user base, which totals over 10.4 million
considering that’s how many users follow the official “Pinterest”
account.
Even though it was co-founded by three men, the site’s not shy
about courting women. It’s About page describes that “People
use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes,
and organize their favorite recipes.”
Pinterest’s easy-to-use Pin It bookmarklet and the joy of
curation is keeping everyone engaged.
Pinterest also employs aggressive reengagement emails to
notify users when their friends join, which may be assisting
growth.
Debra Ruh’s Pinterest
Debra Ruh Pinterest #2
Mary Rainer-Skala (aka Mary Smith)
Pinterest Board
Mary Rainer-Skala, Pinterest Board #2
Mary Rainer-Skala, Pinterest Board #3
Great Developments, But…
A growing concern exist over the
accessibility of such technology
Digital Divide and Social Inclusion
Platform Developers lack awareness
Like PwD, Boomers will be very loyal
customers, who wants them?
Boomers adding their voice to PwD
will be LOUD
Accessibility Issues
Keyboard only users would experience varying
degrees of difficulty, ranging from a lack of
links that allow them to jump over main
navigation links, to pages or features that were
effectively inaccessible to keyboard users.
Many graphics lack any alternative text (or ‘tool
tips’).
Most platforms use an unlabelled ‘CAPTCHA’
(Completely Automated Public Turing Test to
Tell Computers and Humans Apart)
Accessibility of Social Media
Why it’s important?
1. Increasing Popularity
2. Legal Risk
3. Good Business Practice
Takeaways
Social networking is moving beyond just a dot-com website and
entering our lives in new and meaningful ways (whether that’s good
or bad is a matter of opinion). Social media is changing through:
Mobility
Mobile device saturation makes it easier to share information and
connect with friends and businesses. Mobility is making social
tools on the Web more accessible to everyone
Integration
Social networks are spreading into news sites and blogs, giving
visitors to such sites a richer experience if they are users of
Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter
Location services
Social networks are starting to play a role in helping users
interact with organizations and people while on-the-go
Education is Key!
PwD must have a VOICE!!!
Educate business owners, developers, and
technologists about people with disabilities. The
moral aspect (inclusion) and enormous business
opportunity
Although social networking sites by their very nature
intend to offer inclusion, they still fall short
We must continue to strive for accessibility best
practices to be adopted by developers, in new
product development, and by users at every level
QUESTIONS ???
•www.SSBBARTGroup.com •39
Next Steps
Next Steps
Schedule some time to speak with
an SSB expert in your industry
Sign-up for a webinar or online
training covering further topics on
Social Media and Accessibility
Contact the industry expert to
setup a free trial of AMP
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook
and Linked-In (debraruh,
SSBBARTGROUP)
Point of Contact
SSB Point of Contact
Mary Smith
(703) 637-8955 (o)
(703) 407-8152 (m)
Debra Ruh
(804) 749-3565 (o)
(804) 986-4500 (m)
