João Amoêdo was the presidential hopeful that grew the most on Instagram last month. According to a data collection by FGV DAPP, carried out between August 14 and September 13, the candidate’s profiles went from 136.3 thousand to 452.5 thousand followers – an increase of around 230%. The expansion of his support on the network took Amoêdo to the second place in total number of followers, behind Jair Bolsonaro, who accumulates 2.6 million followers, a volume that is almost six times higher than the Novo candidate’s. Fernando Haddad is the second in terms of growth, going from 104.7 thousand to 230.3 thousand followers (almost 120% increase). Despite the significant growth, Haddad is in 4th place in volume of followers, still far from Ciro Gomes, who accumulated 312.4 thousand followers in the period analyzed, a result of the increase of 76.2% of his support base since the beginning of the data collection.

Presidential hopefuls with the highest increase of Instagram followers
Aug 14 – Sep 13

Bolsonaro is also highlighted in hashtag use. Instagram users made 86.8 thousand mentions using the main tags related to the presidential hopeful, with a peak of references between September 6 and 7 due to the attack in Juiz de Fora. There was a predominance of support messages and honors, with hashtags such as #ForçaBolsonaro (be strong Bolsonaro) and #EstouComBolsonaro (I’m with Bolsonaro).