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Are your LinkedIn connections recognizing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of respondents applauding your insights on growing your business? Are headhunters making contact to discuss collaborations?

If not, the reason might be your gender.

The Test: Modifying Profile Gender for Better Visibility

Dozens of female professionals participated in an organized professional network test recently following viral posts suggested that changing their profile gender to "male" enhanced their network presence.

Other testers rewrote their profiles to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" language - adding action-focused professional jargon like "drive", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Based on reports, their visibility also improved.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The improved metrics has led some to speculate whether an inherent sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes male users who use online business jargon.

Similar to many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs an algorithm to decide which posts appear to which users - promoting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when determining content distribution. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" influence how content are received.

Changing gender on your profile does not influence how your content shows up in results or timelines.

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who changed her pronouns to "he/him" and her profile name to "a masculine version", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The numbers I'm seeing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she commented.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decline substantially.

The Process

• First, she modified her profile gender to "male"
• Then, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "male-coded" wording
• Finally, she repurposed previous content with comparable "agentic" language

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

The Negative Aspect

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

"Before, my posts were softer - concise and insightful, but also friendly and human," she explained. "Now, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - like a white male swaggering around."

She abandoned the test after seven days, stating "Every day I continued, and outcomes got better, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some testers encountered positive results. One writer who changed both her gender to "man" and her race to "white" described a decrease in visibility and interaction.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it operates in particular situations or the reasons behind it," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

These experiments occur alongside continuing discussions about LinkedIn's distinctive position as both a professional network and social space.

Platform modifications in the past few months have apparently caused women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, resulting in unofficial tests where identical content by male and female users received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses AI systems to categorize and distribute content based on various elements, including what's shared and the member's career profile.

The company claims it frequently assesses its algorithms, including "checks for inequalities based on gender."

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

Changing Landscape

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

"People often view LinkedIn as more professional and refined," she commented. "This is evolving. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and less controlled."