By Shafian Rahman, Manager, Insights, Audience Intelligence & Performance
(Analysis timeframe: January 1– March 31, 2026)
When Zohran Mamdani took office as Mayor of New York City, the question wasn’t just whether his digitally fluent campaign operation would carry into governing — it was whether his team could maintain narrative control in an increasingly nationalized and polarized information environment. It’s a dynamic that extends far beyond New York, and one that increasingly defines how political leaders, companies and institutions are perceived.
One hundred days in, the answer on the surface looks like yes. But dig deeper and the picture is more complicated. High engagement numbers feel like a win. But what if the people driving that engagement aren’t your audience and aren’t telling your story? This is the central challenge for modern leaders: attention is easier to generate than ever, but far harder to control.
That’s not a hypothetical. It’s what Avoq found when we analyzed the social conversation surrounding Mamdani’s first 100 days in office. The implications extend well beyond City Hall, with lessons for any organization operating in today’s information environment. Instead of a city talking about its new mayor’s local governance, the conversation is being driven by national political audiences using his name as part of broader debates.
The Narrative Has Been Nationalized — and Not By New York
Avoq analyzed 3.3 million posts by public accounts on X discussing Mamdani during his first 100 days, totaling 55 million social interactions. Since taking office, the @NYCMayor account on X has posted 448 times, generated 9.6 million social interactions and averaged 22,000 per post, an unprecedented level of engagement compared to the last two mayoral administrations.
But volume isn’t the full picture. What matters is who’s driving it and whether they represent your actual audience.
55% of the conversation on X is being driven by right-leaning accounts. The content gaining traction isn’t centered on day-to-day governance in New York; it’s rooted in narratives that resonate with national audiences far removed from the five boroughs. The result is that substantive conversations about subway policy, housing and the real impact of his administration are getting drowned out. His name has become a vessel for national narratives rather than a reflection of his local record.
Meanwhile, the New York City cluster — local media, community influencers, neighborhood organizations and the political stakeholders who actually live and work in the city— accounts for just 8% of the conversation.
The mayor’s team is posting. People are engaging. But the people shaping the narrative aren’t constituents or stakeholders. They’re external audiences amplifying the conversation for their own purposes or broader political context.
The Real Lesson: Attention Isn’t Control
We’re in an environment where engagement numbers can look healthy while the underlying narrative is being written by actors with an entirely different agenda. A politician, brand, a CEO, an institution — any of them can be generating record attention online and still be losing the story, because the audience driving that attention isn’t the audience that matters.
Without a clear understanding of who’s driving the conversation, narrative control can shift to the loudest voices in the room, regardless of whether they’re your customers, your community or your stakeholders.
If you’re not actively shaping your narrative, someone else will. And they may not have your interests in mind.
What Avoq Can Do
Avoq used its social media analytics platform to aggregate and analyze conversations on X related to Zohran Mamdani, as well as to identify the key audiences driving and engaging with this content. This analysis demonstrates the type of insights Avoq provides clients on how social media conversations influence their most important stakeholder groups, as part of our Influence Intelligence (Avoq I2) offering.
Avoq offers the technologies, solutions and strategic expertise that enables our clients to:
- Identify who is actually driving your social narrative — not just how many people are talking, but which audiences, and with what intent.
- Understand the impact on your target audiences — so you know whose voice is changing hearts and minds, and where the conversation that matters is actually happening.
- Help you communicate and amplify your narrative for impact — to ensure the story being told about your organization and your issues is the one you’ve shaped, and not left to others.
