Professional Network Visibility Boost: Female Professionals Find Better Results By Presenting to be Men
Do your LinkedIn connections recognizing you as a thought leader? Do numerous commenters praising your insights on expanding your venture? Are headhunters making contact to explore opportunities?
Should that not be the case, the explanation might be your gender.
The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity to achieve Increased Reach
Numerous female professionals participated in a collective LinkedIn experiment recently after viral posts suggested that switching their profile gender to "male" boosted their platform visibility.
Other testers rewrote their professional summaries to include what they called "masculine-oriented" terminology - inserting results-driven business buzzwords like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Based on reports, their visibility similarly increased.
Systemic Preference Concerns Raised
The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether an inherent sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes men who employ professional networking terminology.
Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to determine which content are shown to which users - promoting some while reducing others.
Platform Response
In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but stated it does not factor in "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Rather, the company mentioned that "numerous factors" influence how content perform.
Modifying profile gender in your settings does not affect how your content appears in results or timelines.
Individual Results
Simone Bonnett, who modified her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", described remarkable results.
"The numbers I'm seeing show a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she commented.
Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decline significantly.
The Method
- First, she changed her gender to "male"
- Then, she used AI tools to rephrase her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" wording
- Finally, she repurposed previous content with similar "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 dissatisfaction with the approach.
"Before, my posts were more personal - concise and clever, but also warm and human," she stated. "Currently, the masculine version was assertive and self-assured - similar to a Caucasian man swaggering around."
She discontinued the experiment after seven days, saying "Every day I persisted, and results improved, I became angrier."
Mixed Results
Not all participants experienced positive results. Cass Cooper who modified both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" described a decrease in reach and interaction.
"We understand there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it operates in particular situations or the reasons behind it," she remarked.
Wider Consequences
These experiments occur alongside continuing conversations about LinkedIn's distinctive role as both a business platform and social space.
Recent changes in the past few months have reportedly caused women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to informal experiments where the same content by men and women received dramatically unequal reach.
System Details
Per LinkedIn, the platform uses AI systems to categorize and spread posts based on various elements, including post content and the member's career profile.
The company claims 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 higher volume due to additional posts on the platform.
Changing Landscape
According to a tester observed, "bro-coding" appears to be growing on the platform.
"People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she commented. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly aggressive and less controlled."