🔗 Share this article

Are your LinkedIn connections viewing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters praising your advice on expanding your business? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss opportunities?

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

The Experiment: Modifying Profile Gender to achieve Increased Reach

Numerous female professionals joined an organized LinkedIn experiment this week following viral posts indicated that switching their profile gender to "male" boosted their platform visibility.

Other testers modified their profiles to incorporate what they termed "bro-coded" language - inserting action-focused business buzzwords like "drive", "transform" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their exposure similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Questions Raised

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether an inherent sexism in the platform's system favors men who use professional networking terminology.

Like most major networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to determine which content are shown to which users - promoting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn recognized the trend but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when deciding content distribution. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" influence how content perform.

Modifying profile gender in your settings does not influence how your content appears in results or timelines.

Individual Results

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

"The numbers I'm observing indicate a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she commented.

Another professional, a marketing expert, started testing after noticing her audience decline significantly.

The Process

• First, she changed her gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rephrase her profile using "male-coded" wording
• Lastly, she recycled previous content with comparable "assertive" style

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

The Downside

Despite the success, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the approach.

"Previously, my posts were softer - brief and clever, but also warm and human," she stated. "Currently, the masculine version was forceful and self-assured - like a white male swaggering around."

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

Mixed Results

Not all testers experienced favorable outcomes. One writer who modified both her gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in visibility and interaction.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it operates in specific cases or the reasons behind it," she commented.

Wider Consequences

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

Recent changes in the past few months have reportedly caused women professionals experiencing markedly lower visibility, leading to informal experiments where identical content by male and female users received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the network uses artificial intelligence to classify and distribute content based on multiple factors, including post content and the user's professional identity.

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

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in certain members' visibility might stem from increased competition due to more content on the network.

Evolving Environment

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

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more professional and refined," she remarked. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly competitive and unpredictable."