Professional Network Visibility Boost: Female Professionals Find Better Results When Pretending to be Men
Do your LinkedIn connections recognizing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters applauding your advice on expanding your business? Do recruiters making contact to explore opportunities?
If not, the reason might be that you're not male.
The Test: Modifying Profile Gender for Increased Reach
Dozens of female professionals joined an organized professional network test this week following popular discussions indicated that switching their profile gender to "male" boosted their network presence.
Other testers modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they termed "masculine-oriented" language - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased.
Algorithmic Bias Concerns Brought Up
The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether a built-in sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes men who use online business jargon.
Like most major networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to decide which posts appear to which members - promoting some while suppressing others.
Platform Response
In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when deciding post visibility. Rather, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" affect how posts perform.
Changing gender on your profile does not affect how your content 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 remarkable results.
"The statistics I'm seeing show a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she commented.
Megan Cornish, a marketing expert, started testing after observing her reach decline significantly.
The Method
- First, she changed her profile gender to "male"
- Subsequently, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "masculine-oriented" wording
- Finally, she recycled previous content with similar "agentic" style
The result was immediate: a more than fourfold rise in visibility within one week.
The Negative Aspect
Although the positive results, Cornish voiced dissatisfaction with the approach.
"Previously, my content were softer - concise and clever, but also warm and relatable," she stated. "Now, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - similar to a Caucasian man being overly confident."
She abandoned the experiment after seven days, saying "Every day I continued, and results improved, I became more frustrated."
Mixed Results
Some testers encountered positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her race to "white" described a reduction in reach and interaction.
"We know there's systemic preference, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it functions in specific cases or the reasons behind it," she remarked.
Broader Implications
These tests occur alongside ongoing conversations about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and community site.
Platform modifications in the past few months have reportedly resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to informal experiments where the same posts by male and female users received vastly different reach.
System Details
According to LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to classify and spread posts based on various elements, including post content and the user's professional identity.
The company claims it regularly evaluates its systems, including "checks for inequalities based on gender."
Company representative suggested that recent declines in certain members' visibility might stem from increased competition due to more content on the network.
Changing Landscape
According to a tester observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be growing on the network.
"People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she commented. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly competitive and unpredictable."
