🔗 Share this article

Do your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters applauding your advice on expanding your venture? Are headhunters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

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

The Experiment: Modifying Gender Identity to achieve Increased Reach

Dozens of women joined a collective LinkedIn experiment this week following viral posts suggested that switching their gender to "man" boosted their network presence.

Other testers modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they termed "bro-coded" terminology - adding results-driven professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their visibility also improved.

Systemic Preference Questions Raised

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether a built-in sexism in the platform's system favors men who use online business jargon.

Like most major social media platforms, LinkedIn employs an algorithm to decide which posts are shown to which members - promoting some while suppressing others.

Company Statement

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn recognized the trend but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when deciding post visibility. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" affect how posts are received.

Changing gender in your settings does not influence how your content appears in search or feed.

Individual Results

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

"The numbers I'm observing show a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she commented.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decrease substantially.

The Method

• First, she changed her profile gender to "man"
• Then, she used AI tools to rephrase her professional summary using "male-coded" wording
• Lastly, she recycled previous content with similar "agentic" style

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

The Negative Aspect

Although the success, Cornish expressed unhappiness with the approach.

"Previously, my posts were softer - brief and insightful, but also warm and relatable," she explained. "Now, the masculine version was assertive and confident - similar to a white male being overly confident."

She discontinued the experiment after one week, saying "Each day I continued, and outcomes improved, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Some participants experienced positive results. Cass Cooper who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" described a reduction in visibility and engagement.

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

Wider Consequences

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

Platform modifications in recent months have reportedly caused female creators experiencing significantly reduced visibility, resulting in unofficial tests where the same posts by men and women received vastly different reach.

Technical Explanation

Per LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to classify and spread posts based on multiple factors, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

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

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

Evolving Environment

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

"People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she commented. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly competitive and less controlled."