Professional Network Engagement Boost: Women Discover Better Results By Presenting as Men

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

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

The Experiment: Changing Profile Gender to achieve Better Visibility

Numerous women participated in a collective LinkedIn experiment recently following popular discussions indicated that switching their gender to "man" enhanced their platform visibility.

Some participants rewrote their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" language - inserting results-driven professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Questions Raised

The engagement increase has caused some to wonder whether a built-in sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm favors men who use online business jargon.

Like many large networking sites, LinkedIn employs an algorithm to decide which content are shown to which members - boosting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent company announcement, LinkedIn recognized the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "personal characteristics" when deciding post visibility. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" affect how posts perform.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not affect how your posts shows up in search or feed.

Personal Experiences

A social media consultant, who changed her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", described extraordinary 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 marketing expert, began experimenting after observing her audience decline substantially.

The Method

• Initially, she changed her profile gender to "man"
• Then, she used artificial intelligence to rephrase her professional summary using "male-coded" wording
• Finally, she recycled previous content with similar "assertive" style

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

The Downside

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

"Before, my posts were more personal - concise and clever, but also friendly and relatable," she explained. "Currently, the bro-coded version was assertive and confident - like a white male swaggering around."

She abandoned the experiment after one week, saying "Each day I continued, and outcomes improved, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Not all testers encountered positive results. One writer who modified both her gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" 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 why," she commented.

Broader Implications

These experiments occur alongside ongoing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a business platform and social space.

Platform modifications in recent months have apparently resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to informal experiments where identical content by male and female users received vastly different audience engagement.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses AI systems to classify and spread content based on various elements, including post content and the member's career profile.

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

A spokesperson suggested that current reductions in certain members' visibility might stem from higher volume due to more content on the network.

Evolving Environment

According to a tester observed, "bro-coding" appears to be growing on the network.

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