Professional Network Visibility Surge: Female Professionals Find Better Results When Presenting to be Men
Are your LinkedIn connections recognizing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters applauding your advice on expanding your venture? Are headhunters making contact to discuss opportunities?
If not, the explanation might be that you're not male.
The Experiment: Changing Profile Gender to achieve Better Visibility
Dozens of women joined a collective professional network test this week following popular discussions suggested that switching their profile gender to "male" boosted their platform visibility.
Some participants rewrote their profiles to incorporate what they termed "masculine-oriented" terminology - inserting action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Based on reports, their visibility similarly increased.
Algorithmic Bias Questions Raised
The engagement increase has led some to speculate whether an inherent gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm prioritizes men who use online business jargon.
Similar to many large networking sites, LinkedIn utilizes an algorithm to decide which content appear to which members - boosting some while reducing others.
Company Statement
Through a blog post, LinkedIn recognized the trend but claimed it does not consider "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company explained that "numerous factors" affect how content are received.
Modifying profile gender in your settings does not affect how your posts shows up in search or feed.
Individual Results
A social media consultant, who changed her pronouns to "he/him" and her profile name to "Simon E", described remarkable outcomes.
"The statistics I'm observing indicate a sixteen-fold rise in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in content views," she noted.
Megan Cornish, a marketing expert, began experimenting after noticing her audience decline significantly.
The Method
- First, she modified her profile gender to "man"
- Subsequently, she used AI tools to rephrase her profile using "masculine-oriented" language
- Lastly, she repurposed old posts with comparable "assertive" style
The result was immediate: a more than fourfold rise in reach within seven days.
The Downside
Despite the success, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the method.
"Previously, my posts were more personal - concise and clever, but also warm and relatable," she explained. "Currently, the bro-coded version was forceful and self-assured - like a Caucasian man being overly confident."
She abandoned the experiment after one week, saying "Each day I persisted, and outcomes got better, I became angrier."
Mixed Results
Not all testers experienced positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who changed both her gender to "male" and her race to "white" reported a decrease in reach and engagement.
"We know there's systemic preference, but it's very challenging to understand how it operates in particular situations or the reasons behind it," she remarked.
Wider Consequences
These experiments coincide with continuing conversations about LinkedIn's unique role as both a business platform and community site.
Recent changes in the past few months have reportedly resulted in female creators experiencing significantly reduced exposure, resulting in informal experiments where the same posts by male and female users received dramatically unequal audience engagement.
Technical Explanation
According to LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to categorize and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including post content and the user's professional identity.
The company states it regularly evaluates its systems, including "examinations of inequalities based on gender."
Company representative suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might stem from higher volume due to more content on the network.
Changing Landscape
According to a tester observed, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be increasing on the network.
"People often view LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she remarked. "This is evolving. It's becoming increasingly competitive and less controlled."
