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Do your LinkedIn followers recognizing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of respondents applauding your advice on growing your business? Are headhunters reaching out to explore opportunities?

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

The Experiment: Changing Gender Identity for Better Visibility

Dozens of women joined a collective professional network test this week after popular discussions suggested that switching their gender to "male" boosted their network presence.

Some participants rewrote their profiles to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" language - inserting action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "expedite". Anecdotally, their visibility also improved.

Systemic Preference Questions Brought Up

The improved metrics has led some to speculate whether a built-in gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm favors men who employ professional networking terminology.

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

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" affect how content are received.

Changing gender on your profile does not influence how your posts shows up in search or feed.

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who changed her gender identifiers to "he/him" and her profile name to "Simon E", reported extraordinary results.

"The statistics I'm seeing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a thirteen-fold jump in content views," she commented.

Another professional, a marketing expert, started testing after observing her reach decrease significantly.

The Process

• Initially, she modified her profile gender to "male"
• Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rephrase her profile using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Finally, she recycled old posts with similar "agentic" style

The result was instantaneous: a 415% increase in visibility within seven days.

The Downside

Despite the success, Cornish expressed unhappiness with the approach.

"Before, my content were softer - concise and clever, but also warm and relatable," she stated. "Currently, the bro-coded version was assertive and self-assured - similar to a white male being overly confident."

She abandoned the test after one week, stating "Every day I continued, and results improved, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Some participants encountered positive results. Cass Cooper who changed both her profile gender to "man" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in visibility and interaction.

"We know there's algorithmic bias, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it functions in specific cases or why," she remarked.

Broader Implications

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

Platform modifications in recent months have reportedly caused female creators experiencing markedly lower exposure, resulting in unofficial tests where identical posts by men and women received vastly different reach.

System Details

Per LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to classify and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including what's shared and the user's professional identity.

The company states it regularly evaluates its algorithms, including "checks for inequalities based on gender."

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

Changing Landscape

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

"People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she remarked. "That's changing. It's turning into increasingly aggressive and unpredictable."