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Are your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters applauding your advice on expanding your venture? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

If not, the reason could be your gender.

The Experiment: Modifying Gender Identity for Increased Reach

Numerous female professionals joined a collective LinkedIn experiment recently following viral posts suggested that changing their profile gender to "male" enhanced their network presence.

Some participants modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" language - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Based on reports, their exposure similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Questions Raised

The engagement increase has caused some to wonder whether an inherent sexism in the platform's system prioritizes men who employ online business jargon.

Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes an algorithm to determine which posts are shown to which users - boosting some while reducing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn recognized the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when deciding post visibility. Rather, the company explained that "numerous factors" affect how posts perform.

Modifying profile gender in your settings does not influence how your content appears in search or feed.

Individual Results

A social media consultant, who changed her pronouns to "he/him" and her name to "Simon E", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The numbers I'm observing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she noted.

Megan Cornish, a marketing expert, began experimenting after noticing her reach decrease significantly.

The Method

• Initially, she changed her profile gender to "male"
• Then, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her professional summary using "male-coded" wording
• Finally, she recycled old posts with comparable "assertive" language

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

The Negative Aspect

Despite the positive results, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the approach.

"Previously, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also warm and human," she stated. "Now, the masculine version was assertive and confident - similar to a white male swaggering around."

She abandoned the test after one week, stating "Every day I continued, and results improved, I became more frustrated."

Varying Outcomes

Some participants encountered positive outcomes. One writer who changed 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 the reasons behind it," she remarked.

Broader Implications

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

Platform modifications in recent months have apparently caused female creators experiencing markedly lower exposure, leading to informal experiments where the same posts by male and female users received dramatically unequal audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

According to LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to categorize and distribute content based on various elements, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

The company claims it regularly evaluates its algorithms, including "examinations of inequalities based on gender."

Company representative proposed that recent declines in certain members' visibility might stem from higher volume due to additional posts on the network.

Evolving Environment

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

"People often view LinkedIn as more professional and polished," she commented. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly competitive and unpredictable."