🔗 Share this article

Do your professional networking followers recognizing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters praising your advice on expanding your business? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss opportunities?

If not, the reason might be your gender.

The Test: Changing Gender Identity for Better Visibility

Dozens of women joined a collective professional network test this week following popular discussions suggested that changing their gender to "man" enhanced their network presence.

Some participants rewrote their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "masculine-oriented" language - inserting action-focused business buzzwords like "drive", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The improved metrics has led some to speculate whether an inherent sexism in the platform's system prioritizes men who employ professional networking terminology.

Like most major social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to determine which posts are shown to which users - boosting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when deciding content distribution. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" affect how content perform.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not influence how your posts shows up in search or feed.

Personal Experiences

Simone Bonnett, who changed her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her name to "a masculine version", described extraordinary outcomes.

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

Another professional, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decline substantially.

The Process

• Initially, she modified her profile gender to "male"
• Then, she used AI tools to rephrase her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Lastly, she repurposed previous content with comparable "agentic" language

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

The Downside

Despite the success, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the method.

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

She abandoned the experiment after seven days, stating "Every day I continued, and outcomes improved, I became angrier."

Varying Outcomes

Not all testers experienced favorable results. One writer who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her race to "white" reported a decrease in visibility and engagement.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to understand how it functions in particular situations or why," she commented.

Wider Consequences

These tests occur alongside ongoing discussions about LinkedIn's distinctive role as both a professional network and community site.

Platform modifications in the past few months have reportedly caused female creators experiencing markedly lower visibility, leading to informal experiments where the same content by male and female users received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to classify and spread content based on various elements, including post content and the member's career profile.

The company states it frequently assesses its systems, including "examinations of inequalities based on gender."

Company representative proposed that recent declines in some users' reach might originate from increased competition due to additional posts on the platform.

Evolving Environment

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

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