🔗 Share this article

Do your LinkedIn followers recognizing you as a industry expert? Do numerous respondents praising your advice on growing your venture? Are headhunters making contact to discuss collaborations?

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

The Test: Changing Profile Gender to achieve Better Visibility

Dozens of female professionals participated in a collective LinkedIn experiment recently after viral posts suggested that changing their gender to "male" enhanced their network presence.

Other testers modified their profiles to include what they called "bro-coded" language - inserting results-driven professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their visibility also improved.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether an inherent gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm favors men who use professional networking terminology.

Similar to many large networking sites, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which content appear to which users - promoting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

In a recent company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not consider "personal characteristics" when deciding post visibility. Instead, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" influence how content perform.

Changing gender in your settings does not affect how your posts shows up in search or feed.

Individual Results

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

"The numbers I'm observing show a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she commented.

Another professional, a communications strategist, started testing after observing her audience decline substantially.

The Method

• Initially, she modified her profile gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used AI tools to rephrase her profile using "male-coded" language
• Lastly, she repurposed old posts with similar "assertive" style

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

The Downside

Although the positive results, Cornish expressed unhappiness with the method.

"Before, my content were softer - concise and insightful, but also friendly and relatable," she stated. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and self-assured - like a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She discontinued the experiment after seven days, saying "Each day I continued, and results got better, I became more frustrated."

Varying Outcomes

Not all testers encountered favorable outcomes. Cass Cooper who changed both her profile gender to "man" and her race to "white" reported a decrease in reach and engagement.

"We know there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it functions in particular situations or why," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

These experiments coincide with ongoing conversations about LinkedIn's unique position as both a business platform and social space.

Recent changes in the past few months have apparently resulted in female creators experiencing significantly reduced visibility, resulting in unofficial tests where the same posts by male and female users received vastly different audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

According to LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to classify and distribute posts based on various elements, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

The company claims it regularly evaluates its algorithms, including "examinations of inequalities based on gender."

Company representative suggested that current reductions in some users' reach might originate from increased competition due to additional posts on the platform.

Evolving Environment

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

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