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Are your LinkedIn followers viewing you as a industry expert? Do numerous commenters praising your advice on growing your venture? Do recruiters making contact to discuss collaborations?

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

The Test: Changing Profile Gender for Better Visibility

Dozens of women joined an organized LinkedIn experiment recently after viral posts indicated that changing their gender to "male" boosted their network presence.

Other testers modified their profiles to include what they termed "masculine-oriented" terminology - adding action-focused professional jargon like "propel", "transform" and "expedite". Based on reports, their exposure similarly increased.

Algorithmic Bias Concerns Brought Up

The engagement increase has caused some to wonder whether an inherent gender bias in LinkedIn's algorithm favors male users who employ professional networking terminology.

Similar to most major networking sites, LinkedIn employs an algorithm to determine which posts are shown to which users - boosting some while reducing others.

Platform Response

Through a blog post, LinkedIn recognized the phenomenon but claimed it does not factor in "demographic information" when determining post visibility. Instead, the company mentioned that "numerous factors" influence how content perform.

Changing gender in your settings does not affect how your posts appears in search or feed.

Individual Results

A social media consultant, who changed her gender identifiers to "male pronouns" and her name to "Simon E", reported remarkable outcomes.

"The statistics I'm observing show a sixteen-fold rise in profile views and a thirteen-fold jump in impressions," she noted.

Megan Cornish, a communications strategist, started testing after observing her audience decline substantially.

The Process

• First, she modified her profile gender to "man"
• Then, she used artificial intelligence to rewrite her profile using "masculine-oriented" language
• Lastly, she recycled previous content with comparable "assertive" language

The outcome was immediate: a 415% increase in visibility within seven days.

The Downside

Although the positive results, Cornish voiced unhappiness with the method.

"Previously, my content were more personal - brief and insightful, but also warm and human," she explained. "Now, the masculine version was forceful and confident - like a white male swaggering around."

She discontinued the experiment after seven days, saying "Each day I persisted, and results improved, I became angrier."

Mixed Results

Some testers experienced favorable outcomes. One writer who changed both her profile gender to "male" and her ethnicity to "white" reported a decrease in visibility and interaction.

"We know there's algorithmic bias, but it's very challenging to comprehend how it functions in particular situations or why," she remarked.

Wider Consequences

These experiments coincide with continuing conversations about LinkedIn's unique position as both a professional network and social space.

Recent changes in the past few months have apparently caused female creators experiencing significantly reduced visibility, leading to informal experiments where identical posts by men and women received vastly different reach.

Technical Explanation

According to LinkedIn, the network uses AI systems to classify and distribute posts based on multiple factors, including what's shared and the member's career profile.

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

A spokesperson suggested that recent declines in some users' reach might stem from higher volume due to additional posts on the network.

Changing Landscape

As one participant noted, "masculine-oriented language" appears to be increasing on the platform.

"Users typically consider LinkedIn as more businesslike and refined," she commented. "This is evolving. It's turning into increasingly aggressive and unpredictable."