Logocracy
Origin: Inspired by Clement Viktorovich
Definition
Logocracy designates the power of those whose discourse is algorithmically amplified on social media. The term plays on the Greek words logos (discourse, reason) and kratos (power), but with a displacement: it is not the quality of the logos that confers power, but its algorithmic engageability.
In a classical rhetorical democracy, it is the strength of discourse (its coherence, its relevance, its capacity to convince) that determines its influence. In algorithmic logocracy, the criterion of dominance is different: it is the capacity of discourse to trigger reactions, to be shared, commented on, contested. The algorithm becomes the true logos: it is what decides what propagates.
In my writings
This concept names a precise and perverse phenomenon: the positive feedback loop that is self-sustaining on social media. The more content is algorithmically visible, the more engagement it accumulates; the more engagement it accumulates, the more the algorithm distributes it; the more it is distributed, the more its author appears legitimate and influential. Visibility begets visibility, regardless of the value of the discourse.
Individuals who master the codes of the algorithmically rewarded format (fragmentation, calibrated provocation, emotional formatting) do not prevail because they are right or because they speak better: they prevail because they have understood the grammar that the algorithm rewards.