Usability Evaluation of Facebook and Instagram by Visually Impaired People

Article Information

Title: Usability Evaluation of Facebook and Instagram by Visually Impaired People

Authors: Amna Sajid, Muhammad Zafar Ullah, Basit Shahzad, Aaqib Adeel, Naveed Ahmad

Journal: International Journal of Innovations in Science & Technology

HEC Recognition History

Category	From	To
Y	2024-10-01	2025-12-31
Y	2023-07-01	2024-09-30
Y	2021-07-01	2022-06-30

Publisher: 50SEA JOURNALS (SMC-PRIVATE) LIMITED

Country: Pakistan

Year: 2022

Volume: 4

Issue: 5

Language: English

Keywords: Visually ImpairedUsability evaluationFacebook InstagramWCAG

Abstract

Introduction/Importance of Study:
Social networking websites have become the main medium for communication, information sharing, entertainment, buying/selling, and various other purposes. People of every age use social networking websites, and their usage is increasing daily, especially in current circumstances. People with different abilities also used social networking websites, but each set of users had their requirements for using these websites. Visually impaired people use computers and the web with the help of screen reading tools e. g.; jaws, and NVDA. Screen reading tools read a web page sequentially, which was a time-consuming process. The major problem with screen reading tools came while reading visual content. Screen reading tools only read the alternate texts of non-visual content behind their tag. This research focuses on the usability of social networking websites for visually impaired people. Two of the most commonly used social networking websites, Facebook and Instagram, were selected for the usability evaluation. Accessibility, efficiency, and effectiveness were the metrics of usability, which were evaluated in this study.
Novelty statement:
A consolidated set of guidelines specific to social networking websites were presented in which some new guidelines were also proposed for Facebook. A mock interface was developed based on the proposed guidelines for Facebook.
Material and Method:
`For the evaluation of usability, a controlled experiment was conducted with 28 visually impaired people in which 16 participants evaluated Facebook and 12 evaluated Instagram to find the usability problems faced by visually impaired people.
Result and Discussion:
Results show that Instagram was as easy to use as compared to Facebook when used by visually impaired people with the help of screen reading tools.
Concluding Remarks:
Results showed that Facebook was difficult to use in comparison to Instagram. Thus, new guidelines were proposed for Facebook, and based on the guidelines, a prototype was proposed.

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Research Objective

To evaluate the usability of Facebook and Instagram for visually impaired people, identify usability problems, and propose new guidelines specific to social networking websites.

Methodology

A controlled experiment was conducted with 28 visually impaired participants. 16 participants evaluated Facebook and 12 evaluated Instagram. Usability was measured using efficiency (time taken to complete tasks) and effectiveness (number of tasks completed). A between-subject design was used.

Methodology Flowchart

                        graph TD
    A[Define Research Objective] --> B[Literature Review];
    B --> C[Select PlatformsFacebook, Instagram];
    C --> D[Recruit Visually Impaired Participants];
    D --> E[Design Controlled Experiment];
    E --> F[Conduct Experiment Task Performance];
    F --> G[Collect Data Time, Tasks Completed];
    G --> H[Analyze Data Efficiency, Effectiveness];
    H --> I[Identify Usability Problems];
    I --> J[Map Problems to Existing Guidelines/Literature];
    J --> K[Propose New Guidelines];
    K --> L[Develop Mock Interface];
    L --> M[Draw Conclusions];

Discussion

Visually impaired users face challenges with social networking sites due to their visual nature and dynamic content. Screen readers, while essential, can be time-consuming and struggle with visual elements. Existing guidelines like WCAG are not always sufficient for the specific challenges encountered on social networking platforms. The study highlights issues with image descriptions, navigation, and interface changes.

Key Findings

Instagram was found to be as easy to use as Facebook by visually impaired people with screen reading tools. However, Facebook was found to be more difficult to use compared to Instagram. New guidelines were proposed for Facebook based on identified usability issues.

Conclusion

Facebook presents more usability challenges for visually impaired users than Instagram. The study proposes a set of genre-specific guidelines for social networking websites to improve accessibility and usability for this user group, and a mock interface was developed based on these guidelines.

Fact Check

* 28 visually impaired people participated in the study.
* Facebook has approximately 2.23 billion monthly active users, and Instagram has 1 billion.
* The study identified 10 usability problems, with 6 mapped to existing literature and guidelines, and 4 new guidelines proposed.

Mind Map

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