Professional Network Engagement Boost: Female Professionals Discover Success When Pretending to be Male Users
Do your professional networking connections viewing you as a thought leader? Do numerous commenters applauding your insights on growing your business? Are headhunters making contact to explore opportunities?
Should that not be the case, the explanation could be that you're not male.
The Experiment: Modifying Gender Identity to achieve Better Visibility
Dozens of female professionals joined an organized LinkedIn experiment recently after popular discussions indicated that changing their gender to "man" boosted their network presence.
Other testers rewrote their profiles to incorporate what they termed "bro-coded" language - adding results-driven professional jargon like "drive", "transform" and "expedite". Based on reports, their visibility similarly increased.
Algorithmic Bias Concerns Brought Up
The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether a built-in sexism in the platform's system favors men who use online business jargon.
Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to determine which posts are shown to which members - boosting some while reducing others.
Platform Response
Through a company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not consider "personal characteristics" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company mentioned that "numerous factors" affect how posts perform.
Modifying profile gender in your settings does not affect how your content shows up in search or feed.
Individual Results
Simone Bonnett, who changed her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her profile name to "a masculine version", described remarkable outcomes.
"The statistics I'm seeing indicate a 1,600% increase in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she commented.
Megan Cornish, a marketing expert, started testing after noticing her reach decline significantly.
The Method
- Initially, she modified her profile gender to "male"
- Then, she used AI tools to rephrase her professional summary using "male-coded" language
- Finally, she repurposed previous content with comparable "agentic" style
The outcome was instantaneous: a 415% increase in reach within one week.
The Negative Aspect
Although the success, Cornish expressed unhappiness with the method.
"Before, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also friendly and relatable," she explained. "Currently, the masculine version was forceful and confident - like a Caucasian man swaggering around."
She abandoned the experiment after one week, stating "Every day I continued, and results improved, I became more frustrated."
Mixed Results
Not all testers encountered positive outcomes. One writer who changed both her profile gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "Caucasian" reported a decrease in reach and engagement.
"We understand there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it functions in particular situations or why," she commented.
Broader Implications
These experiments coincide with ongoing conversations about LinkedIn's distinctive position as both a professional network and community site.
Recent changes in the past few months have apparently resulted in women professionals experiencing markedly lower visibility, resulting in unofficial tests where the same posts by men and women received vastly different audience engagement.
System Details
Per LinkedIn, the network uses artificial intelligence to classify and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the user's professional identity.
The company claims it regularly evaluates its algorithms, including "checks for inequalities based on gender."
A spokesperson proposed that recent declines in certain members' visibility might stem from higher volume due to additional posts on the network.
Changing Landscape
As one participant observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be growing on the platform.
"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she commented. "That's changing. It's becoming increasingly competitive and unpredictable."
