🔗 Share this article

Are your professional networking connections viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters applauding your insights on growing your venture? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

If not, the explanation could be that you're not male.

The Test: Modifying Profile Gender for Increased Reach

Numerous female professionals participated in an organized professional network test this week following viral posts suggested that changing their profile gender to "man" enhanced their platform visibility.

Other testers modified their professional summaries to include what they termed "bro-coded" terminology - inserting action-focused professional jargon like "drive", "transform" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their exposure similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Questions Raised

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

Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes an algorithm to decide which content are shown to which users - boosting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not factor in "personal characteristics" when deciding post visibility. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" affect how posts perform.

Modifying profile gender in your settings does not affect how your content shows up in results or timelines.

Personal Experiences

Simone Bonnett, who changed her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her profile name to "a masculine version", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The numbers I'm observing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she commented.

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

The Method

• Initially, she changed her gender to "man"
• Then, she used artificial intelligence to rephrase her profile using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Lastly, she recycled previous content with similar "assertive" style

The result was immediate: a more than fourfold rise in reach within seven days.

The Downside

Despite the positive results, Cornish expressed dissatisfaction with the method.

"Before, my posts were more personal - brief and clever, but also warm and relatable," she stated. "Currently, the masculine version was assertive and self-assured - similar to a white male being overly confident."

She discontinued the test after seven days, saying "Every day I continued, and outcomes improved, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Some participants encountered positive results. One writer who modified both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" reported a reduction in reach and engagement.

"We know there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to understand how it functions in specific cases or the reasons behind it," she remarked.

Broader Implications

These experiments coincide with continuing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a business platform and community site.

Platform modifications in recent months have apparently resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced exposure, leading to informal experiments where identical content by men and women received vastly different audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

According to LinkedIn, the platform uses AI systems to classify and spread posts based on various elements, including what's shared and the member's career profile.

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

A spokesperson proposed that current reductions in some users' reach might originate from increased competition due to more content on the platform.

Evolving Environment

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

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more professional and polished," she remarked. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly aggressive and less controlled."