🔗 Share this article

Are your LinkedIn connections viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of respondents applauding your insights on expanding your business? Are headhunters reaching out to explore collaborations?

If not, the reason might be that you're not male.

The Test: Modifying Profile Gender for Increased Reach

Numerous women joined an organized professional network test recently following popular discussions suggested that changing their gender to "male" enhanced their platform visibility.

Other testers rewrote their profiles to include what they called "masculine-oriented" terminology - adding action-focused business buzzwords like "drive", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Based on reports, their visibility similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Questions Brought Up

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether an inherent gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes male users who use online business jargon.

Like many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which posts are shown to which users - boosting some while suppressing others.

Company Statement

Through a blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" affect how posts are received.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not influence how your posts appears in results or timelines.

Personal Experiences

A social media consultant, who changed her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her name to "a masculine version", described remarkable results.

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

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, began experimenting after noticing her reach decline substantially.

The Method

• First, she modified her gender to "man"
• Then, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "masculine-oriented" language
• Finally, she recycled old posts with similar "agentic" language

The outcome was instantaneous: a more than fourfold rise in visibility within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

Although the success, Cornish expressed dissatisfaction with the method.

"Before, my content were more personal - concise and insightful, but also warm and human," she explained. "Currently, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - similar to a Caucasian man swaggering around."

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

Varying Outcomes

Some participants experienced favorable outcomes. One writer who modified both her gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a reduction in reach and interaction.

"We know there's algorithmic bias, but it's extremely difficult to comprehend how it functions in specific cases or the reasons behind it," she commented.

Wider Consequences

These tests occur alongside continuing discussions about LinkedIn's unique role as both a business platform and social space.

Platform modifications in the past few months have reportedly resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to informal experiments where identical posts by men and women received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

Per LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to classify and distribute posts based on various elements, including what's shared and the member's career profile.

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

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in certain members' visibility might originate from higher volume due to additional posts on the network.

Changing Landscape

As one participant observed, "bro-coding" appears to be growing on the platform.

"People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she commented. "That's changing. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and unpredictable."