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Do your LinkedIn followers recognizing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters praising your insights on growing your venture? Are headhunters reaching out to explore collaborations?

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

The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity for Increased Reach

Dozens of women joined a collective LinkedIn experiment recently after popular discussions indicated that changing their profile gender to "man" enhanced their network presence.

Some participants modified their professional summaries to incorporate what they called "masculine-oriented" terminology - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their exposure similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Concerns Raised

The improved metrics has led some to speculate whether a built-in sexism in the platform's system prioritizes male users who employ online business jargon.

Like many large networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to determine which content are shown to which members - boosting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent company announcement, LinkedIn acknowledged the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when deciding post visibility. Rather, the company explained that "numerous factors" affect how content are received.

Modifying profile gender in your settings does not affect how your posts appears in results or timelines.

Individual Results

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

"The statistics I'm observing indicate a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she noted.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decline substantially.

The Method

• First, she modified her profile gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used AI tools to rewrite her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Lastly, she repurposed old posts with similar "agentic" language

The result was immediate: a more than fourfold rise in reach within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

Despite the success, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the method.

"Before, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also friendly and human," she explained. "Now, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - like a Caucasian man being overly confident."

She discontinued the experiment after one week, saying "Every day I continued, and outcomes got better, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some testers experienced positive results. One writer who modified both her gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in reach and engagement.

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

Wider Consequences

These tests coincide with continuing conversations about LinkedIn's unique role as both a professional network and community site.

Platform modifications in the past few months have reportedly caused women professionals experiencing significantly reduced exposure, resulting in unofficial tests where the same content by men and women received vastly different audience engagement.

Technical Explanation

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to categorize and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the member's career profile.

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

Company representative proposed that recent declines in some users' reach might stem from higher volume due to more content on the network.

Changing Landscape

As one participant observed, "bro-coding" appears to be increasing on the network.

"People often view LinkedIn as more professional and refined," she remarked. "This is evolving. It's turning into increasingly aggressive and less controlled."