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Are your LinkedIn connections viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of respondents applauding your advice on expanding your venture? Do recruiters reaching out to explore opportunities?

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

The Experiment: Changing Profile Gender for Increased Reach

Dozens of female professionals joined a collective professional network test this week after viral posts suggested that switching their gender to "male" boosted their network presence.

Some participants modified their profiles to include what they termed "masculine-oriented" language - adding action-focused business buzzwords like "drive", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their exposure similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Concerns Brought Up

The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether a built-in sexism in LinkedIn's algorithm favors men who employ online business jargon.

Like most major social media platforms, LinkedIn employs an algorithm to decide which content are shown to which members - promoting some while reducing others.

Platform Response

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn recognized the trend but stated it does not consider "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Rather, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" influence how posts perform.

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

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who changed her pronouns to "he/him" and her profile name to "a masculine version", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The numbers I'm seeing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in profile views and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she noted.

Another professional, a marketing expert, started testing after noticing her audience decrease substantially.

The Method

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

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

The Downside

Although the positive results, Cornish expressed dissatisfaction with the approach.

"Previously, my posts were more personal - brief and insightful, but also friendly and human," she explained. "Now, the masculine version was assertive and self-assured - similar to a Caucasian man swaggering around."

She discontinued the test after seven days, stating "Each day I persisted, and results got better, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some testers encountered positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who modified both her profile gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a reduction in reach and interaction.

"We know there's systemic preference, but it's extremely difficult to comprehend how it functions in specific cases or why," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

These tests coincide with continuing discussions about LinkedIn's unique position as both a business platform and community site.

Platform modifications in the past few months have reportedly caused female creators experiencing markedly lower exposure, leading to informal experiments where the same posts by male and female users received vastly different audience engagement.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the network uses artificial intelligence to categorize and spread posts based on multiple factors, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

The company claims it frequently assesses its algorithms, including "checks for inequalities based on gender."

A spokesperson proposed that current reductions in certain members' visibility might originate from increased competition due to more content on the network.

Changing Landscape

As one participant observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be growing on the network.

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