Social media is all about sharing images of family, friends and travels, and now blind people might be given the chance to ‘see’ these pictures online themselves. The social media giant plans to offer its 1.5 billion users a new device or in-built app, which will also describe the image for those who can’t see it. “You just think about how much of your news feed is visual and so often people will make a comment about a photo or they’ll say something about it when they post it, but they won’t really tell you what is in the photo,” says Facebook’s first blind engineer, Matt King. For example, an image of a beach at sunset could be labelled, “nature, outdoor, cloud, foliage, grass, tree”, so to give the ‘viewer’ more of an idea of what’s in there. This might not be 100 per cent yet, but even if it’s just halfway there, the level of engagement that’s possible, the amount of enjoyment I can get, that’s like going from zero to at least 50 per cent of what a sighted person might get,” he explained.
New Eyes On Facebook
