Reddit is testing official labels for profiles according to reports as well as also making parts of its app compatible with screen readers. The social media networking company on Wednesday shared some product updates.
Reddit Labels for Profiles
Social networking platform Reddit is now starting to test a new official label that will reportedly make it easier to know the authenticity of an account on the platform. The new label in question will be appearing sitewide thus meaning that it will not be up to the moderators of individual subreddits to have to verify specific accounts on the platform.
Reddit Announcing the Update
“Starting today, we’re beginning early testing of placing a visual indicator on certain profiles to provide proof of authenticity, reduce impersonation, and increase transparency across the platform,” a Reddit admin (employee) in a post wrote. “This is currently only available to a *very* small (double-digit) number of profiles belonging to organizations with whom we already have existing relationships, and who are interested in engaging with Redditors and communities on our platform.”
Visibility of the Official Labels
Right about now, the “Official” labels are just only visible on the iOS and Android apps of Reddit. “As we evaluate the results of the experiment, we’ll iterate — which will include rolling it to other platforms,” the admin reportedly stated. And having the “Official” label “does not unlock any special privileges or protections.”
Reddit Announced Accessibility Improvements to the Platform
Reddit in a separate post, announced accessibility improvements that are intended to reportedly make its iOS and Android apps easily work better with screen readers. The company in the post said that “prominent surfaces” in the apps will reportedly be “compatible with your device’s screen reader” starting in August and then provided the following timeline for the parts of the app that will be compatible with screen readers and when:
“Navigation: left navigation menu, profile drawer, and bottom tab bar i.e. buttons are entry points to home and community feeds, create a post, chat, and inbox (mid-August)
Community page (mid-August)
Post detail page (mid-August)
Home & Popular feed (late August)”
The company is also promising that the accessibility improvements will be “continuously incorporated in the future product updates and releases.”
Reddit API Pricing Protests
Accessibility advocates as you probably should know were a key part of the protests against the API pricing of Reddit that forced many third-party apps to shut down, thus saying that the official apps did not have accessibility features that some users reportedly needed. The company however has made some progress as it exempted some accessibility-focused apps from the API pricing, and then announced accessibility upgrades for moderators in the previous month, and just last week, invited mods to a new Accessibility Feedback Group.
Other Areas Reddit Need to Work On
But it, however, seems like Reddit may still have some work to do in regard to the communication aspect of the company. MostlyBlindGamer, who is a mod of r/Blind (which met with Reddit to discuss accessibility back in June), revealed in an email that the moderation team did not know about the timeline of features that were announced Wednesday until they were reportedly announced.
MostlyBlindGamer in a reply to a Reddit post on Wednesday also stated that they had filled out the form for the Accessibility Feedback Group but had not gotten any form of feedback. A Reddit admin however stated that the company plans to select participants next week.
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