Cabinet Reviews Union Ministers’ Social Media Performance; PM Modi Tops Ranking: Report

The social media performance of Union ministers was reviewed at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, with an overall ranking based on their digital outreach and engagement shared with ministers, News18 reported. The assessment covered activity across Instagram, X and Facebook between May 1 and August 15, 2026.

The report said the exercise was intended to assess the quality and reach of ministers’ digital communication rather than simply compare their follower counts.

How Were Ministers Ranked?

According to sources cited by the report, the assessment considered several indicators of social media performance, including the average number of posts published each day, total engagement, average engagement per post, total and average likes, follower count and the overall level of interaction generated by each minister.

The exercise was not limited to a comparison among Union Cabinet ministers, sources said. The methodology also considered the traction generated by political leaders across the spectrum, from senior national leaders to grassroots-level figures, across major social media platforms.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi emerged as the highest-ranked leader in the overall assessment, the report stated.

The review covered roughly three-and-a-half months of social media activity and was intended to provide the government with a broader picture of how effectively ministers were using digital platforms to communicate with the public.

Ministers Asked To Increase Digital Engagement

Following the review, ministers were reportedly advised to increase their social media activity, with an emphasis on generating greater engagement and encouraging meaningful interaction with citizens.

The exercise comes as the government and the BJP increasingly rely on social media platforms to communicate policy initiatives, government schemes and political messaging directly to the public.

Rather than focusing only on the size of an account’s following, the assessment sought to measure how actively audiences were responding to ministers’ content.

Modi Earlier Urged Ministers To Focus On Instagram

The review follows an earlier Cabinet meeting in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged ministers to strengthen their presence on social media, particularly Instagram.

According to the report, Modi asked ministers whether they were active on Instagram and sought to know how many young people were engaging with the platform and what kind of traction their content was generating.

The Prime Minister also stressed the importance of making ministers’ social media accounts more interactive and engaging, particularly to connect with younger audiences.

The latest assessment therefore reflects the government’s broader push to make social media a more prominent channel for direct communication between ministers and citizens, with engagement and interaction emerging as key measures of digital outreach.