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Are your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters praising your advice on growing your venture? Are headhunters reaching out to explore opportunities?

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

The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity for Increased Reach

Numerous women participated in an organized professional network test recently after popular discussions indicated that changing their profile gender to "man" enhanced their platform visibility.

Some participants rewrote their professional summaries to incorporate what they termed "masculine-oriented" language - adding results-driven business buzzwords like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Concerns Raised

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether a built-in sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm favors men who employ professional networking terminology.

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

Platform Response

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but stated it does not consider "personal characteristics" when deciding post visibility. Rather, the company mentioned that "numerous factors" affect how content perform.

Changing gender in your settings does not influence how your posts shows up in search or feed.

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who modified her gender identifiers to "he/him" and her name to "a masculine version", described remarkable 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 marketing expert, began experimenting after noticing her reach decline substantially.

The Method

• Initially, she modified her gender to "man"
• Then, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her profile using "male-coded" language
• Lastly, she repurposed previous content with comparable "agentic" style

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

The Downside

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

"Before, my content were more personal - concise and insightful, but also warm and relatable," she explained. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and confident - similar to a white male swaggering around."

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

Varying Outcomes

Some testers experienced favorable results. One writer who modified both her gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "white" described a decrease in reach and engagement.

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

Broader Implications

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 apparently caused female creators experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to unofficial tests where identical posts by men and women received vastly different audience engagement.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to classify and distribute posts based on various elements, including post content and the member's career profile.

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

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might stem from increased competition due to additional posts on the network.

Changing Landscape

According to a tester noted, "bro-coding" appears to be growing on the network.

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more professional and polished," she commented. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly aggressive and less controlled."