🔗 Share this article

Are your LinkedIn connections viewing you as a industry expert? Do numerous respondents applauding your insights on growing your business? Do recruiters making contact to explore opportunities?

If not, the explanation might be your gender.

The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity for Better Visibility

Numerous women participated in an organized professional network test recently after popular discussions indicated that switching their profile gender to "male" boosted their network presence.

Some participants modified their profiles to incorporate what they called "masculine-oriented" language - inserting action-focused business buzzwords like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Based on reports, their exposure also improved.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The engagement increase has caused some to wonder whether a built-in gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm favors male users who employ professional networking terminology.

Similar to many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to determine which content are shown to which members - promoting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

Through a company announcement, LinkedIn recognized the trend but stated it does not factor in "personal characteristics" when determining content distribution. Instead, the company explained that "numerous factors" affect how content perform.

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

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who changed her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her profile name to "a masculine version", described remarkable results.

"The numbers I'm observing indicate a 1,600% increase in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she noted.

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

The Method

• First, she changed her gender to "man"
• Then, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "male-coded" wording
• Lastly, she repurposed previous content with similar "agentic" language

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

The Negative Aspect

Although the success, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the method.

"Previously, my content were softer - brief and clever, but also friendly and human," she explained. "Currently, the masculine version was forceful and confident - like a white male being overly confident."

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

Mixed Results

Not all testers experienced positive results. One writer who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in reach and interaction.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it functions in particular situations or the reasons behind it," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

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

Recent changes in the past few months have reportedly resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, resulting in informal experiments where the same content by men and women received dramatically unequal reach.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the network uses artificial intelligence to classify and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the member's career profile.

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

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in certain members' visibility might originate from higher volume due to additional posts on the network.

Changing Landscape

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

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she remarked. "That's changing. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and less controlled."