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Are your LinkedIn connections viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters praising your insights on expanding your venture? Are headhunters making contact to discuss opportunities?

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

The Test: Modifying Gender Identity to achieve Better Visibility

Dozens of female professionals joined a collective professional network test recently following popular discussions suggested that changing their profile gender to "male" boosted their network presence.

Other testers modified their profiles to incorporate what they called "masculine-oriented" terminology - inserting action-focused business buzzwords like "propel", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their exposure similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Questions Raised

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether an inherent sexism in the platform's system prioritizes male users who employ professional networking terminology.

Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which content appear to which users - promoting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but stated it does not consider "demographic information" when deciding content distribution. Instead, the company explained that "numerous factors" influence how posts perform.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not influence how your content appears 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 outcomes.

"The statistics I'm seeing show a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she commented.

Megan Cornish, a marketing expert, began experimenting after noticing her audience decrease substantially.

The Process

• Initially, she changed her profile gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used AI tools to rephrase her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" language
• Finally, she recycled old posts with similar "agentic" language

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

The Negative Aspect

Although the success, Cornish expressed unhappiness with the approach.

"Before, my posts were more personal - concise and insightful, but also warm and human," she explained. "Currently, the masculine version was forceful and confident - like a Caucasian man being overly confident."

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

Varying Outcomes

Not all participants experienced positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who modified both her gender to "man" and her race to "white" described a decrease in reach and engagement.

"We know there's algorithmic bias, but it's extremely difficult to comprehend how it functions in specific cases or why," she remarked.

Broader Implications

These tests occur alongside ongoing conversations about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and community site.

Platform modifications in recent months have reportedly resulted in women professionals experiencing markedly lower exposure, leading to informal experiments where identical content by male and female users received vastly different audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

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

The company claims it regularly evaluates its systems, including "checks for gender-related disparities."

A spokesperson suggested that current reductions in certain members' visibility might originate from increased competition due to more content on the platform.

Evolving Environment

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

"People often view LinkedIn as more professional and refined," she commented. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly competitive and unpredictable."