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Are your professional networking followers recognizing you as a industry expert? Are hordes of commenters praising your insights on expanding your venture? Are headhunters reaching out to explore collaborations?

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

The Test: Changing Gender Identity to achieve Increased Reach

Dozens of women joined a collective professional network test recently after viral posts suggested that switching their profile gender to "man" enhanced their platform visibility.

Some participants modified their profiles to incorporate what they called "bro-coded" terminology - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their visibility also improved.

Systemic Preference Questions Brought Up

The improved metrics has led some to speculate whether a built-in sexism in the platform's system favors men who employ professional networking terminology.

Similar to most major social media platforms, LinkedIn employs a computerized system to decide which content appear to which members - boosting some while reducing others.

Platform Response

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but stated it does not consider "personal characteristics" when determining content distribution. Rather, the company mentioned that "hundreds of signals" influence how content perform.

Changing gender on your profile does not influence how your content appears 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 numbers I'm seeing indicate a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in impressions," she noted.

Another professional, a communications strategist, started testing after noticing her audience decline significantly.

The Process

• Initially, she changed her gender to "male"
• Subsequently, she used artificial intelligence to rephrase her professional summary using "masculine-oriented" wording
• Finally, she repurposed previous content with similar "agentic" style

The outcome was instantaneous: a more than fourfold rise in visibility within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

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

"Before, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also warm and relatable," she explained. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and confident - similar to a Caucasian man being overly confident."

She discontinued the experiment after one week, saying "Each day I continued, and outcomes got better, I became more frustrated."

Mixed Results

Not all participants encountered favorable outcomes. 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 systemic preference, but it's extremely difficult to understand how it operates in particular situations or the reasons behind it," she commented.

Broader Implications

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

Recent changes in the past few months have reportedly resulted in women professionals experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to unofficial tests where the same content by male and female users received vastly different reach.

System Details

According to LinkedIn, the platform uses AI systems to classify 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 "examinations of inequalities based on gender."

Company representative suggested that current reductions in certain members' visibility might originate from higher volume due to additional posts on the platform.

Changing Landscape

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

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