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Do your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of respondents praising your insights on expanding your business? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss opportunities?

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

The Experiment: Modifying Profile Gender for Better Visibility

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

Other testers rewrote their profiles to incorporate what they called "masculine-oriented" language - inserting results-driven professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their exposure similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Concerns Raised

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether a built-in gender bias in the platform's system prioritizes men who employ professional networking terminology.

Similar to many large social media platforms, LinkedIn utilizes an algorithm to decide which posts appear to which users - boosting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when deciding content distribution. Instead, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" influence how posts perform.

Changing gender on your profile does not influence how your content shows up in results or timelines.

Individual Results

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

"The numbers I'm seeing indicate a 1,600% increase in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she commented.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, began experimenting after noticing her audience decline significantly.

The Method

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

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

The Negative Aspect

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

"Previously, my content were softer - brief and insightful, but also friendly and human," she stated. "Currently, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - similar to a Caucasian man being overly confident."

She abandoned the experiment after seven days, stating "Each day I continued, and results improved, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Not all testers experienced favorable outcomes. Cass Cooper who modified both her gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in reach and engagement.

"We understand there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to comprehend 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 professional network and social space.

Platform modifications in the past few months have apparently resulted in female creators experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to unofficial tests where the same content by male and female users received dramatically unequal reach.

Technical Explanation

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

The company states it frequently assesses its systems, including "examinations of gender-related disparities."

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might originate from increased competition due to additional posts on the platform.

Changing Landscape

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

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