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Do your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a industry expert? Do numerous commenters applauding your insights on growing your venture? Are headhunters making contact to discuss opportunities?

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

The Test: Modifying Gender Identity to achieve Increased Reach

Numerous female professionals joined a collective LinkedIn experiment this week following popular discussions suggested that changing their gender to "male" enhanced their network presence.

Some participants rewrote their professional summaries to include what they termed "bro-coded" terminology - inserting action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "revolutionize" and "accelerate". Anecdotally, their exposure similarly increased.

Systemic Preference Questions Raised

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

Like most major social media platforms, LinkedIn utilizes a computerized system to determine which posts are shown to which users - boosting some while reducing others.

Company Statement

In a recent blog post, LinkedIn acknowledged the trend but claimed it does not factor in "personal characteristics" when deciding content distribution. Instead, the company explained that "hundreds of signals" affect how content perform.

Modifying profile gender on your profile does not affect how your content appears in search or feed.

Individual Results

Simone Bonnett, who modified her gender identifiers to "he/him" and her profile name to "Simon E", described remarkable outcomes.

"The statistics I'm seeing show a 1,600% increase in visitor traffic and a 1,300% increase in content views," she commented.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, began experimenting after observing her reach decrease substantially.

The Method

• Initially, she changed her gender to "man"
• Subsequently, she used AI tools to rephrase her profile using "male-coded" wording
• Lastly, she recycled previous content with similar "assertive" language

The outcome was instantaneous: a 415% increase in reach within seven days.

The Negative Aspect

Despite the positive results, Cornish expressed dissatisfaction with the method.

"Before, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also friendly and human," she stated. "Currently, the bro-coded version was assertive and self-assured - like a white male swaggering around."

She abandoned the test after seven days, stating "Each day I continued, and results got better, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some participants encountered positive outcomes. Cass Cooper who changed both her gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a reduction in reach and interaction.

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

Broader Implications

These experiments occur alongside ongoing discussions about LinkedIn's distinctive position as both a business platform and community site.

Recent changes in the past few months have apparently caused women professionals experiencing significantly reduced exposure, leading to informal experiments where identical content by male and female users received vastly different audience engagement.

System Details

According to LinkedIn, the platform uses artificial intelligence to categorize 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 "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

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

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and polished," she commented. "This is evolving. It's becoming increasingly aggressive and less controlled."