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Are your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a thought leader? Do numerous respondents praising your insights on growing your venture? Are headhunters reaching out to explore opportunities?

Should that not be the case, the reason could be your gender.

The Test: Changing Profile Gender for Better Visibility

Dozens of female professionals joined an organized LinkedIn experiment this week after popular discussions suggested that switching their gender to "man" boosted their platform visibility.

Some participants rewrote their professional summaries to include what they called "bro-coded" language - inserting results-driven professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Questions Raised

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether an inherent sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes men who use professional networking terminology.

Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to decide which posts are shown to which members - promoting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but stated it does not factor in "personal characteristics" when deciding content distribution. Rather, the company explained that "numerous factors" affect how posts are received.

Changing gender on your profile does not influence how your content shows up in search or feed.

Personal Experiences

A social media consultant, who changed her gender identifiers to "he/him" and her name to "a masculine version", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The statistics I'm observing show a 1,600% increase in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she noted.

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

The Method

• Initially, she modified her profile gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "male-coded" language
• Finally, she recycled previous content with comparable "agentic" language

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

The Negative Aspect

Although the positive results, Cornish voiced dissatisfaction with the approach.

"Before, my posts were softer - concise and insightful, but also warm and human," she stated. "Now, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - like a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She discontinued the test after seven days, stating "Each day I continued, and outcomes improved, I became more frustrated."

Varying Outcomes

Some participants experienced positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in visibility and interaction.

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

Broader Implications

These experiments occur alongside ongoing 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 women professionals experiencing markedly lower visibility, leading to unofficial tests where the same posts by men and women received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses AI systems to categorize and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

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

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might stem from increased competition due to more content on the platform.

Changing Landscape

According to a tester observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be growing on the platform.

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