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Do your LinkedIn connections viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of respondents praising your advice on growing your business? Are headhunters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

If not, the explanation could be that you're not male.

The Test: Changing Gender Identity to achieve Better Visibility

Dozens of female professionals participated in a collective LinkedIn experiment recently after viral posts suggested that switching their gender to "man" enhanced their network presence.

Some participants modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" language - inserting action-focused professional jargon like "drive", "transform" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their exposure also improved.

Algorithmic Bias Questions Brought Up

The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether a built-in gender bias in the platform's system prioritizes men who employ professional networking terminology.

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

Company Statement

In a recent company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Rather, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" influence how posts are received.

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

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who modified her pronouns to "he/him" and her name to "a masculine version", described remarkable results.

"The numbers I'm seeing show a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in content views," she commented.

Another professional, a communications strategist, began experimenting after observing her audience decrease substantially.

The Method

• First, she modified her gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used AI tools to rewrite her profile using "male-coded" language
• Lastly, she recycled old posts with similar "agentic" language

The outcome was immediate: a 415% increase in reach within one week.

The Negative Aspect

Despite the success, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the approach.

"Previously, my content were more personal - concise and clever, but also friendly and relatable," she explained. "Currently, the masculine version was forceful and self-assured - like a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She abandoned the experiment after seven days, saying "Each day I continued, and outcomes improved, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Some testers encountered positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who modified both her profile gender to "man" and her race to "Caucasian" described a decrease in visibility and engagement.

"We understand there's systemic preference, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it functions in particular situations or why," she commented.

Wider Consequences

These experiments coincide with continuing conversations about LinkedIn's unique role as both a business platform and social space.

Platform modifications in recent months have reportedly caused women professionals experiencing significantly reduced exposure, resulting in informal experiments where the same content by male and female users received dramatically unequal reach.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the network uses artificial intelligence to categorize and distribute content based on multiple factors, including post content and the user's professional identity.

The company claims it frequently assesses its systems, including "examinations of gender-related disparities."

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might originate from higher volume due to additional posts on the platform.

Evolving Environment

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

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