Changing people’s views about veganism and climate change: influencers as lifestyle changemakers in social dilemmas

Social media allows users to participate actively in social debates, increases connections and information sharing. Information systems research has extensively provided evidence for the evolving role of social media in fostering social change and has traditionally anchored it to the collective action and social movements perspectives. In this short paper, we argue that there is a growing significance of lifestyle perspectives driving social change, opening new areas for investigation of new online organising forms, impacts, and actors who work to bring about the change. We discuss this in the context of veganism and climate change and position social media influencers as changemakers in lifestyle movements who, in opposition to traditional forms of activism, promote veganism as a desirable lifestyle choice. We propose to study this argument by employing computational methods. We hope to offer new discussions and insights that advance our understanding of social media in everyday life.