Social Networking to Your Own Advantage 
Slide 1: Social Networking to Your Own Advantage	 
Mika Pyyhkala, President National Federation of the Blind of Massachusetts
Tom Wlodkowski, Director of Accessibility, AOL Inc.
January 11, 2011 

Slide 2: Agenda 
Overview
Terminology
Demonstration of accessible tools
Q&A

Slide 3: Factoids Galore
Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the internet.
Not a fad: fundamental shift in communication
Over 200,000,000 blogs
◦	54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily
•	By 2010 Generation Y will outnumber Baby Boomers
◦	96% of them have joined a social network
•	62% of Baby Boomers are active on the internet

Slide 4: Years to Reach 
50 Million Users
•	Radio…38 years
•	Television…13 years
•	Internet…4 years
•	iPod…3 years
•	Facebook…100 Million added in 9 months
◦	Currently more than 400 Million Users
◦	Facebook is one of many social networking sites.
◦	Based on population, Facebook would be the 3rd biggest country (Behind China and India)
◦	Radio Tower, Newspaper, TV 

Slide 5: Top Social Networks
•	Top Social Networking Sites
◦	Facebook
◦	LinkedIn
◦	Twitter
◦	FourSquare 
◦	Gowalla 
◦	MySpace
◦	YouTube
◦	Social Networking Logos 

Slide 6: Common Terminology
•	Profile – Your network-specific home page. Format and type of information conveyed varies across networks.
•	Tag – A “label” used to identify topics and events  that are a useful search tool.
◦	#a11y - Label for accessibility-specific posts.
◦	#csun11 – Tag typically attached to posts/tweets related to the CSUN Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference in March.
•	“Follow” or “Friend” – Subscribe to updates and events posted by an identity.
Slide 7: Access Issues
•	Accessibility challenges include:
•	User generated content lacks accessibility attributes
◦	Closed captions on videos
◦	No alternative text for images
•	Keyboard support
•	Poorly labeled links
•	Complex navigation

Slide 8: Interactive Demonstrations
•	AOL Lifestream -  A social network aggregator that allows consumers to manage multiple social networks through one user interface from a desktop computer or mobile device.
•	Qwitter – An accessible Twitter application developed by a third party designed to provide the blind with an “innovative integration between Twitter and the user’s screen reader.”
•	A sampling of mainstream social media applications that leverage crowd sourcing to deliver travel and other information of value to people with disabilities.