Research indicates Lula is the most relevant politician on social media.
The Nexus survey also points to rapid growth for Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the Network Relevance Index (IR² Nexus).
247 - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) presented the highest Network Relevance Index (IR² Nexus) throughout the entire year of 2025, according to a Nexus survey released this Wednesday (4). The analysis of digital presence involved the 11 main names considered for the electoral race in October of this year.
Through various "social listening" tools and manual data collection, all publications made between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025, on the profiles of 11 potential presidential candidates from the following social networks were collected: X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
With an IR² Nexus score of 79,92 points during the analyzed period, on a scale of 0 to 100, President Lula achieved a solid presence across all social media platforms throughout the year. His overall score was the highest among presidential candidates. Second and third place in the IR² Nexus Global 2025 ranking are occupied by members of the Bolsonaro family. Former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, currently in the United States, appears in second place with a score of 62,42. Following him is his brother, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who obtained a score of 57,71. In fourth place is the current governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio Freitas, with an IR² Nexus of 28,77.
Completing the ranking are Ronaldo Caiado (14,46), Fernando Haddad (13,90), Romeu Zema (13,75), Ratinho Júnior (10,84), Ciro Gomes (9,68), Michele Bolsonaro (8,83) and Eduardo Leite (7,90).
The report notes that despite appearing in third place, Flávio Bolsonaro has been increasing his monthly IR² Nexus since August of last year (when it rose from 35 that month to 77 in December), a trend contrary to that recorded in the case of Eduardo Bolsonaro. In December 2025, the last month for which data was collected, the average IR² Nexus on the senator's social media surpassed, for the first time, that of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula, however, had led the indicator throughout the first 11 months of the year and, for that reason, maintained the lead in the accumulated result for 2025, according to the survey.
“President Lula comfortably led the ranking of performance on social media throughout 2025, but the growth of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro after the announcement of his presidential candidacy signals how fierce the electoral contest will be in the digital environment. The fact that Flávio surpassed the current president in December needs to be viewed with caution, as it is a single month, but it indicates that polarization will once again be the hallmark of political discussions in the digital arena in this year's elections,” says Marcelo Tokarski, CEO of Nexus.
In addition to having the largest global IR² Nexus of 2025, Lula appears in 1st place on three of the five social networks analyzed: TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. On the other two networks, YouTube and X, the president appears in 2nd place, with Eduardo Bolsonaro in first.
“In analyzing social media, we were able to identify some important patterns in the country's political dispute: while TikTok is still a relatively untapped territory for the Brazilian right, YouTube is a platform where this faction, embodied by Eduardo Bolsonaro, has absolute dominance. In an election year, the fight for space on these platforms tends to intensify even further, especially in an election that has all the makings of being as competitive as the one in 2022,” adds the CEO of Nexus.
Check out the data:
According to the research institute, the IR² Nexus Index consolidates performance on social media, "balancing posting frequency, reach, engagement, and efficiency, and applying weights proportional to the strategic relevance of each platform."
