DIGITAL LIFE

Women say LinkedIn reach increases with 'masculine' profile and 'sexist' language

A series of collective experiments conducted by women on LinkedIn has reignited the debate about possible gender biases in the platform's algorithm.

In recent weeks, viral reports have claimed that changing the profile gender to "male" or rewriting the biography and publications using "sexist" business jargon would result in strong increases in reach and views.

The tests began after publications suggested that male profiles and texts with words like "accelerate," "transform," and "lead" would have greater visibility.

Last week, dozens of women decided to repeat the experiment. Some report significant gains in exposure, although LinkedIn denies that demographic information influences the distribution of content in the feed.

In a blog post on Thursday (20), LinkedIn acknowledged the trend, but stated that it does not consider "demographic information" when deciding who receives attention. Instead, it said that "hundreds of signals" influence the performance of a given post.

"Changing the gender on your profile doesn't affect how your content appears in search or feed," said Sakshi Jain, a LinkedIn spokesperson.

Even so, reports are piling up. Social media consultant Simone Bonnett, from Oxford, England, replaced her pronouns with "He/Him" and adjusted her profile name to "Simon E".

After the change, she said she saw a 1,600% increase in profile views and a 1,300% increase in post impressions, numbers she described as "amazing".

Communication strategist Megan Cornish, who works in the mental health technology sector, also tested changes to try to recover a reach that had been plummeting.

After changing her gender to "male," she asked ChatGPT to rewrite her profile and old posts in language considered "masculine" or "agentic," marked by assertiveness. Her reach increased by 415% in just one week, and the story went viral with almost 5,000 reactions.

Megan, however, abandoned the test because she didn't identify with the more aggressive tone of the posts, according to a report in The Guardian.

The experience wasn't the same for everyone. Writer Cass Cooper, specializing in technology and algorithms, changed her gender to "male" and also her race to "white." Instead of an increase, she registered a decrease in reach and engagement. Other Black women reported similar results. For Cooper, the numbers don't necessarily prove a specific bias on LinkedIn, but reflect broader structural inequalities that permeate the digital environment and society.

This discussion occurs at a time when users are pointing to noticeable changes in feed behavior. Content creators claim that, in recent months, there has been a drastic reduction in visibility, prompting informal comparisons between men and women posting the same content. In many of these cases, male profiles received significantly greater reach.

LinkedIn uses an AI system to rank posts in its feed, deciding how to distribute them based on content, as well as the professional identity and skills of the poster. The company states that its algorithms are regularly evaluated, including "gender-related disparity checks."

A LinkedIn spokesperson suggested that the recent drop in reach for certain users is due to a much larger volume of content on the network, adding that there was a 24% increase in comments and a corresponding spike in the number of video uploads in the last quarter.

Participants in the experiment observe that the presence of content with a strong "masculine" aesthetic is growing and altering the traditionally more formal climate of LinkedIn. For Simone, this change is noticeable. The consultant states that the professional network "is becoming a true digital Wild West."

mndophone