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Are your professional networking followers viewing you as a industry expert? Do numerous commenters praising your insights on growing your business? Are headhunters reaching out to discuss opportunities?

Should that not be the case, the explanation could be that you're not male.

The Experiment: Modifying Gender Identity for Better Visibility

Dozens of women joined a collective LinkedIn experiment recently after viral posts suggested that changing their gender to "male" enhanced their platform visibility.

Other testers modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they termed "masculine-oriented" terminology - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Based on reports, their visibility also improved.

Algorithmic Bias Questions Brought Up

The engagement increase has caused some to wonder whether a built-in sexism in the platform's system prioritizes men who use online business jargon.

Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to determine which posts appear to which users - boosting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn recognized the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when determining content distribution. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" affect how content perform.

Changing gender in your settings does not affect how your content shows up in results or timelines.

Individual Results

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

"The statistics I'm seeing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in content views," she commented.

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

The Method

• First, she changed her profile gender to "man"
• Then, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Lastly, she recycled old posts with similar "agentic" style

The result was immediate: a 415% increase in reach within one week.

The Downside

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

"Before, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also friendly and relatable," she stated. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and self-assured - similar to a Caucasian man being overly confident."

She discontinued the test after one week, saying "Each day I persisted, and outcomes got better, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Not all participants experienced favorable outcomes. One writer who modified both her gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" described a decrease in reach and engagement.

"We know there's algorithmic bias, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it functions in particular situations or why," she remarked.

Broader Implications

These experiments coincide with continuing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and community site.

Recent changes in the past few months have apparently resulted in women professionals experiencing markedly lower visibility, leading to unofficial tests where identical content by men and women received vastly different reach.

Technical Explanation

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

The company states it frequently assesses 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 additional posts on the platform.

Changing Landscape

As one participant noted, "bro-coding" appears to be increasing on the network.

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