🔗 Share this article

Are your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a thought leader? Do numerous respondents applauding your insights on growing your venture? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

If not, the reason could be your gender.

The Test: Modifying Profile Gender to achieve Better Visibility

Dozens of female professionals joined a collective professional network test this week following popular discussions suggested that switching their profile gender to "man" boosted their platform visibility.

Some participants modified their profiles to include what they termed "bro-coded" terminology - adding results-driven business buzzwords like "drive", "transform" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their exposure also improved.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether a built-in gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes male users who use professional networking terminology.

Like most major social media platforms, LinkedIn utilizes an algorithm to determine which posts appear to which users - promoting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but stated it does not factor in "demographic information" when determining content distribution. Instead, the company mentioned that "numerous factors" influence how content perform.

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

Personal Experiences

A social media consultant, who changed her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her profile name to "Simon E", reported extraordinary results.

"The statistics I'm seeing show a sixteen-fold rise in profile views and a 1,300% increase in content views," she noted.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, began experimenting after observing her reach decrease significantly.

The Process

• Initially, she modified her profile gender to "male"
• Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her profile using "masculine-oriented" language
• Finally, she recycled previous content with comparable "assertive" style

The outcome was immediate: a 415% increase in reach within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

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

"Before, my content were softer - concise and clever, but also warm and human," she explained. "Currently, the bro-coded version was forceful and confident - similar to a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She abandoned the experiment after one week, stating "Every day I continued, and results improved, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Some participants encountered positive outcomes. One writer who changed both her profile gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" reported a reduction in visibility and engagement.

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

Wider Consequences

These experiments occur alongside continuing conversations about LinkedIn's unique role as both a business platform and community site.

Platform modifications in the past few months have reportedly resulted in female creators 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 network uses AI systems to categorize and spread posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the member's career profile.

The company states 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 increased competition due to additional posts on the network.

Changing Landscape

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

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she remarked. "This is evolving. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and unpredictable."