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Are your professional networking followers viewing you as a thought leader? Do numerous respondents applauding your advice on expanding your venture? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss opportunities?

Should that not be the case, the reason could be that you're not male.

The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity for Better Visibility

Dozens of women participated in an organized LinkedIn experiment recently following viral posts suggested that changing their profile gender to "man" boosted their platform visibility.

Other testers rewrote their profiles to include what they called "bro-coded" terminology - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their exposure 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 professional networking terminology.

Similar to many large networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to decide which content are shown to which members - boosting some while suppressing others.

Company Statement

In a recent company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when determining content distribution. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" influence how posts perform.

Changing gender in your settings does not influence how your content appears in results or timelines.

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who changed her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The numbers I'm observing show a 1,600% increase in profile views and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she noted.

Another professional, a communications strategist, began experimenting after noticing her audience decrease substantially.

The Process

• First, she modified her gender to "male"
• Then, she used AI tools to rephrase her profile using "male-coded" language
• Lastly, she repurposed old posts with similar "agentic" style

The result was instantaneous: a 415% increase in reach within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

Although the success, Cornish voiced dissatisfaction with the method.

"Before, my content were softer - brief and clever, but also friendly and relatable," she explained. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and confident - similar to a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She abandoned the test after seven days, stating "Every day I persisted, and outcomes got better, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some testers encountered favorable outcomes. One writer who changed both her gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" reported a reduction in reach and engagement.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it functions in specific cases or why," she commented.

Broader Implications

These tests occur alongside continuing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and social space.

Recent changes in the past few months have apparently resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, resulting in informal experiments where identical posts by male and female users received vastly different reach.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the network uses artificial intelligence to categorize and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the user's professional identity.

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

Company representative proposed that current reductions in some users' reach might stem from higher volume due to more content on the network.

Evolving Environment

According to a tester observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be growing on the platform.

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she remarked. "This is evolving. It's becoming increasingly competitive and less controlled."