🔗 Share this article

Are your professional networking connections viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters applauding your insights on expanding your business? Do recruiters making contact to discuss collaborations?

If not, the reason might be that you're not male.

The Experiment: Changing Profile Gender to achieve Increased Reach

Numerous women participated in an organized professional network test recently after viral posts indicated that changing their profile gender to "male" enhanced their network presence.

Other testers rewrote their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" language - inserting results-driven professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their visibility similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether a built-in sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm favors male users who use professional networking terminology.

Similar to many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs an algorithm to determine which posts appear to which members - boosting some while suppressing others.

Company Statement

Through a company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but stated it does not consider "demographic information" when deciding post visibility. Instead, the company explained that "numerous factors" affect how posts perform.

Changing gender in your settings does not affect how your posts shows up in search or feed.

Personal Experiences

A social media consultant, who changed her gender identifiers to "he/him" and her profile name to "a masculine version", reported remarkable results.

"The numbers I'm observing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she noted.

Another professional, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her reach decline substantially.

The Process

• Initially, she modified her gender to "male"
• Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Lastly, she repurposed old posts with similar "agentic" language

The result was instantaneous: a more than fourfold rise in reach within one week.

The Negative Aspect

Although the success, Cornish voiced dissatisfaction with the approach.

"Previously, my content were more personal - brief and clever, but also friendly and relatable," she stated. "Currently, the masculine version was forceful and confident - similar to a white male swaggering around."

She discontinued the experiment after seven days, saying "Each day I persisted, and outcomes improved, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Not all testers experienced positive results. Cass Cooper who modified both her gender to "male" and her race to "white" described a decrease in reach and interaction.

"We know there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to understand how it operates in particular situations or why," she commented.

Wider Consequences

These tests coincide with continuing discussions about LinkedIn's distinctive position as both a business platform and social space.

Recent changes in the past few months have reportedly caused women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, resulting in unofficial tests where identical posts by men and women received vastly different audience engagement.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to classify and distribute posts based on various elements, including post content and the user's professional identity.

The company states it frequently assesses its algorithms, including "examinations of inequalities based on gender."

Company representative suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might originate from increased competition due to more content on the network.

Evolving Environment

As one participant observed, "bro-coding" appears to be increasing on the network.

"People often view LinkedIn as more professional and refined," she commented. "This is evolving. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and less controlled."