🔗 Share this article

Are your LinkedIn followers recognizing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters praising your advice on expanding your business? Do recruiters reaching out to explore collaborations?

Should that not be the case, the explanation could be your gender.

The Experiment: Modifying Profile Gender for Better Visibility

Dozens of women participated in an organized professional network test this week following viral posts indicated that switching their gender to "male" boosted their network presence.

Other testers modified their profiles to incorporate what they termed "bro-coded" terminology - adding action-focused professional jargon like "drive", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their exposure also improved.

Systemic Preference Concerns Raised

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether an inherent sexism in the platform's system favors male users who use professional networking terminology.

Similar to most major social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which content are shown to which members - boosting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

Through a blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but stated it does not consider "personal characteristics" when deciding content distribution. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" influence how posts are received.

Changing gender on your profile does not affect how your posts appears in results or timelines.

Personal Experiences

A social media consultant, who modified her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", described extraordinary results.

"The numbers I'm seeing show a sixteen-fold rise in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she commented.

Another professional, a marketing expert, started testing after observing her audience decline significantly.

The Process

• Initially, she changed her profile gender to "male"
• Then, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her professional summary using "male-coded" language
• Lastly, she recycled previous content with similar "agentic" style

The outcome was immediate: a more than fourfold rise in visibility within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

Despite the positive results, Cornish expressed dissatisfaction with the approach.

"Previously, my content were softer - concise and insightful, but also warm and human," she stated. "Now, the masculine version was assertive and self-assured - like a white male swaggering around."

She abandoned the experiment after seven days, stating "Every day I continued, and outcomes got better, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Not all participants experienced positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who changed both her gender to "man" and her race to "Caucasian" reported a decrease in visibility and engagement.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's extremely difficult to comprehend how it operates in particular situations or the reasons behind it," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

These experiments coincide with continuing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and social space.

Platform modifications in recent months have reportedly resulted in women professionals experiencing markedly lower exposure, leading to unofficial tests where the same content by men and women received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

System Details

According to LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to classify and spread posts based on various elements, including post content and the member's career profile.

The company states it frequently assesses its systems, including "checks for inequalities based on gender."

Company representative suggested that current reductions in some users' reach might stem from higher volume due to additional posts on the network.

Evolving Environment

According to a tester noted, "bro-coding" appears to be increasing on the network.

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she commented. "That's changing. It's becoming increasingly competitive and less controlled."