A private messaging network connects Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration to roughly 200 social media personalities, according to findings published by the Columbia Journalism Review.
The arrangement, conducted through the encrypted app Signal, gives participating creators direct lines to City Hall’s messaging strategy.
Researchers behind the study confirmed several specific individuals as members of the chat, each occupying a different corner of the online content world — from education to real estate to Bronx lifestyle culture.
Teacher-turned-content-strategist Sari Beth Rosenberg sits among the confirmed participants.
By day, she works for the American Federation of Teachers as a digital content strategist; online, she commands an audience exceeding 420,000 followers spread across multiple platforms, where she frames her content as historical context for current events.
Rosenberg described her purpose to CJR as compensating for the decline of traditional local journalism.
“A lot of people are too busy to seek out news about New York City but they might follow my content or someone else’s, and might engage with it more, so that it’s going to pop up on their feed more,” she explained to researchers.
That access translated into action this past Wednesday, when Rosenberg published a video she billed as an “EXCLUSIVE” sit-down with Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels.
The conversation centered on the administration’s newly announced one-year ban on generative artificial intelligence tools in city public schools.
A separate creator, Nile Berry, built his following of 109,000 on Instagram through the handle @urbanexplained, publishing detailed breakdowns of housing trends, economic shifts and the city’s development future.
CJR’s analysis found his viewership concentrated among men aged 25 to 40 employed in finance and real estate sectors.
Berry parlayed his online presence into a face-to-face meeting with the mayor, during which the two discussed the “Block by Block” housing initiative — a plan targeting the construction of 200,000 new housing units across the five boroughs.
Yet Berry pushed back against the notion that he functions as an uncritical mouthpiece.
He pointed to his public opposition toward the mayor’s city-run grocery store concept and his skepticism of a newly implemented pied-à-terre tax on high-value second homes.
“Sometimes I’m pro what the mayor’s up to, other times I’m outwardly critical of it,” Berry said. “To their credit they are holding on to people who are not always in alignment.”
Bronx-based creator Diego León took a different path into the network.
A former preschool teacher, León now runs the lifestyle account @dandyinthebronx, blending menswear, neighborhood business features, food, travel and Pokémon content for nearly 46,000 followers.
Separately, CJR’s report noted León accepted a paid promotional deal with the city’s Department of Sanitation.
León’s influence extended into civic participation in April, when he posted a Facebook video encouraging followers to cast votes in Mamdani’s “Municipal Madness” bracket competition — a contest determining which neighborhood problem would receive priority cleanup.
“I’m voting to Clean up Illegal Dumping right here in Soundview,” León told viewers, noting the winning neighborhood would see its issue resolved by the mayor personally within the administration’s first 100 days.
Soundview ultimately claimed victory, and Mamdani made an appearance — though he departed roughly 15 minutes after posing for photos.
Education advocate José Vilson brings an academic credential to the group, holding an adjunct position at Columbia Teachers College while commenting on racial justice and city politics to his 12,000-plus Instagram followers under @thejosevilson.
Vilson pushed back on any suggestion of financial motive, telling CJR that chat members prioritize asking “good questions” out of genuine civic concern, and that he personally has received no payment for his coverage.
His February video promoting the mayor’s expanded universal childcare program included a lighter moment where Vilson asked Mamdani to list his five favorite rappers.
The influencer network extends well beyond the five boroughs.
The Creators4Zohran coalition, which gave birth to the private Signal chat, counts members who live nowhere near New York City yet post enthusiastically about the mayor.
Josh Greene, a 26-year-old based in Southern California, reaches 460,000 followers through his @joshtheprogressive account.
Greene’s involvement in paid political content is well established — The New York Times previously reported that at least seven campaigns or political organizations compensated him during the most recent election cycle, including roughly $21,500 from Tom Steyer’s gubernatorial run in California.
Greene’s enthusiasm for Mamdani has occasionally strayed into unrelated territory, including a post crediting the mayor’s influence for the New York Knicks capturing an NBA title.
“Maybe the mayor’s success in New York had something to do with that,” Greene wrote.
Connecticut’s Allie O’Brien, 25, represents another out-of-state voice within Creators4Zohran, having described the mayor in one post as the “mayor of uncontrollable joy.”
Some members’ devotion runs deeper still.
Alexis Williams, 25, called the Creators4Zohran collective her “little family” in a post published after the mayoral election, and in a January 8 announcement declared herself “ready to serve new york city as a deputy press sec for culture partnerships and Black media.”
TikTok creator Layla Taremi, 31, secured a coveted opportunity at a January 7 City Hall press conference reserved for influencers, where she was selected to ask the first question.
Before doing so, she told the mayor directly, “I’ve had so much fun making content for you.”
