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Do your professional networking followers viewing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters applauding your advice on expanding your business? Do recruiters reaching out to discuss collaborations?

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

The Test: Changing Profile Gender to achieve Increased Reach

Dozens of women participated in a collective professional network test this week after viral posts suggested that changing their gender to "male" enhanced their platform visibility.

Some participants modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "masculine-oriented" terminology - adding results-driven business buzzwords like "drive", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Based on reports, their exposure similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Concerns Raised

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether a built-in sexism in the platform's system prioritizes male users who use professional networking terminology.

Like many large social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which posts appear to which members - promoting some while suppressing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but stated it does not factor in "personal characteristics" when deciding content distribution. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" influence how content are received.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not influence how your posts shows up in results or timelines.

Individual Results

A social media consultant, who changed her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", reported remarkable results.

"The statistics I'm seeing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she noted.

Another professional, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decrease significantly.

The Method

• Initially, she changed her gender to "male"
• Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rephrase her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Lastly, she repurposed old posts with comparable "agentic" language

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

The Negative Aspect

Although the positive results, Cornish voiced dissatisfaction with the method.

"Previously, my posts were more personal - concise and clever, but also friendly and human," she stated. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and self-assured - like a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She abandoned the experiment after one week, stating "Every day I continued, and results got better, I became more frustrated."

Varying Outcomes

Not all participants encountered positive results. Cass Cooper who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" described a decrease in visibility and engagement.

"We understand there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it operates in particular situations or why," she remarked.

Broader Implications

These experiments occur alongside ongoing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and community site.

Platform modifications in recent months have reportedly caused women professionals experiencing markedly lower exposure, resulting in informal experiments where the same posts 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 various elements, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

The company claims it regularly evaluates its algorithms, including "checks for gender-related disparities."

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

Evolving Environment

As one participant noted, "bro-coding" appears to be increasing on the platform.

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she remarked. "This is evolving. It's turning into increasingly competitive and unpredictable."