From Fragmentation to Inclusion: How Lived Experiences of Vegan-Content Creators Shape Content to Mobilize Diverse Motivations

Social media is reshaping activism by enabling decentralized engagement and transforming how individuals participate in social movements. This study examines how vegan-content creators leverage their lived experiences to shape digital activism through identity negotiation, narrative construction, and inclusive framing. While digital activism has been widely studied, the role of lived experience in shaping content strategies—particularly within lifestyle-based, digitally organized movements like veganism—remains underexplored. Using a digital ethnographic approach that combines walkthrough analysis of Instagram content with thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, this research reveals how creators act as actors of cultural change who balance authenticity with audience inclusivity. Through adaptive storytelling and the strategic use of platform affordances, creators’ lived experiences and digital tools co-evolve, shaping identity work and narrative adaptation within fragmented movements. This study contributes to the understanding of digital activism by examining how lived experiences and platform affordances mutually shape inclusive activism in fragmented movements.