🔗 Share this article LinkedIn Engagement Boost: Women Find Success By Pretending as Men Are your professional networking followers viewing you as a thought leader? Are hordes of commenters praising your advice on expanding your business? Do recruiters reaching out to explore collaborations? Should that not be the case, the explanation might be your gender. The Test: Modifying Profile Gender for Increased Reach Dozens of women participated in an organized LinkedIn experiment recently following viral posts suggested that changing their gender to "male" boosted their network presence. Other testers rewrote their profiles to incorporate what they termed "masculine-oriented" terminology - inserting action-focused business buzzwords like "drive", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their visibility similarly increased. Algorithmic Bias Questions Raised The improved metrics has caused some to wonder whether an inherent gender bias in the platform's system prioritizes male users who employ professional networking terminology. Similar to many large social media platforms, LinkedIn utilizes an algorithm to decide which content are shown to which users - boosting some while reducing others. Platform Response In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but stated it does not consider "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" affect how posts are received. Modifying profile gender on your profile does not affect how your posts shows up in results or timelines. Individual Results Simone Bonnett, who modified her pronouns to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", reported extraordinary outcomes. "The numbers I'm observing indicate a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she commented. Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, began experimenting after noticing her audience decrease significantly. The Process First, she modified her profile gender to "male" Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her profile using "masculine-oriented" wording Finally, she recycled previous content with similar "agentic" style The result was instantaneous: a more than fourfold rise in visibility within seven days. The Downside Despite the success, Cornish voiced dissatisfaction with the method. "Before, my posts were softer - brief and insightful, but also warm and relatable," she stated. "Now, the masculine version was assertive and confident - similar to a white male being overly confident." She discontinued the experiment after one week, saying "Each day I persisted, and results got better, I became more frustrated." Mixed Results Some participants encountered favorable outcomes. Cass Cooper who modified both her gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" described a reduction in reach and interaction. "We know there's systemic preference, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it operates in specific cases or why," she remarked. Broader Implications These experiments coincide with continuing conversations about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and community site. Platform modifications in recent months have apparently caused women professionals experiencing markedly lower visibility, leading to unofficial tests where identical content by male and female users received vastly different audience engagement. System Details According to LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to categorize and spread content based on various elements, including post content and the member's career profile. The company claims it frequently assesses its systems, including "examinations of inequalities based on gender." Company representative suggested that current reductions in some users' reach might originate from higher volume due to additional posts on the network. Changing Landscape According to a tester observed, "bro-coding" appears to be increasing on the network. "People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she remarked. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly competitive and less controlled."