🔗 Share this article

Do your professional networking followers viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of respondents praising your advice on growing your venture? Are headhunters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

Should that not be the case, the reason might be your gender.

The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity for Increased Reach

Dozens of female professionals participated in an organized professional network test this week following popular discussions suggested that changing their profile gender to "man" enhanced their platform visibility.

Other testers modified their professional summaries to include what they called "masculine-oriented" terminology - inserting action-focused business buzzwords like "drive", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Questions Brought Up

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether a built-in gender bias in the platform's system favors men who use online business jargon.

Like many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which posts are shown to which members - boosting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn recognized the trend but stated it does not consider "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company explained that "numerous factors" influence how posts are received.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not affect how your posts appears in search or feed.

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who modified her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her profile name to "Simon E", reported extraordinary outcomes.

"The numbers I'm seeing show a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in content views," she noted.

Another professional, a communications strategist, started testing after observing her audience decline significantly.

The Method

• Initially, she modified her profile gender to "man"
• Then, she used AI tools to rewrite her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" language
• Lastly, she repurposed previous content with similar "assertive" language

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

The Downside

Although the success, Cornish expressed dissatisfaction with the approach.

"Before, my content were softer - concise and clever, but also friendly and human," she stated. "Currently, the masculine version was assertive and confident - like a white male swaggering around."

She discontinued the test after one week, saying "Each day I persisted, and results got better, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some testers experienced favorable results. Cass Cooper who modified both her gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" described a decrease in reach and interaction.

"We understand there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it functions in particular situations or why," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

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

Recent changes in the past few months have apparently resulted in women professionals experiencing markedly lower exposure, leading to unofficial tests where the same content by male and female users received vastly different reach.

System Details

According to LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to categorize and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the member's career profile.

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

Company representative proposed that current reductions in certain members' visibility might stem from higher volume due to more content on the platform.

Changing Landscape

As one participant observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be increasing on the platform.

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more professional and polished," she remarked. "That's changing. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and unpredictable."