Help Us Uncover the Hidden Patterns Shaping Professional Visibility Online
The professional world has largely moved online, with LinkedIn serving as the central hub for career networking, thought leadership, and business development. But what if the platform that's supposed to level the playing field actually amplifies existing workplace inequalities? We're launching an ambitious research study to find out: and we need your help.
The Problem We're Investigating
There are many small-scale studies that have been conducted over the years. Based on these studies, many blogs have been written about best practices to post on LinkedIn. Some say hashtags work, some others say they no longer work. Some say that including links in the post reduces the reach, yet we see posts with links having huge traction.
A recent small-scale research has revealed troubling patterns in how professional content performs on LinkedIn based on gender. A small study found that when men and women posted identical content, men's posts reached up to 143% of their networks while women's content reached only 8% of theirs. This mirrors broader workplace bias research, including Stanford's findings that women face systematically higher performance evaluation standards and are 1.4 times more likely to receive critical subjective feedback than their male counterparts.
With smaller studies, it is hard to draw conclusions. That is why we are scaling up to answer the questions that we all have, but don’t know.
Our Comprehensive Research Agenda
We're analyzing 10 key areas related to professional visibility and career development:
1. The Gender Amplification Gap
Building on existing research showing that high-performing women are often penalized for confidence and assertiveness in traditional workplace settings, we'll quantify how much less reach women's professional content receives compared to men's when controlling for network size, industry, and seniority.
2. The Optimal Professional Posting Formula
Some claim that longer posts get more engagement. But, we all see high engagement on shorter posts all the time. Some say that LinkedIn penalizes having links in the post. Yet, we see posts with links succeed.
We'll study the combination of post length, hashtag usage, media type, links, and timing.
3. The Industry Bubble Effect
We'll measure how isolated different professional communities are - do finance posts rarely reach marketing professionals? How connected are technical and non-technical roles?
4. The Humble Brag Sweet Spot
What types of achievement announcements generate positive engagement versus appearing boastful? We'll analyze language patterns that maximize professional support while avoiding backlash.
5. The Authenticity Premium
Research on workplace vulnerability shows that strategic authenticity - sharing struggles and failures alongside successes - can build stronger professional relationships. To the extent data allows, we'll verify whether this translates to LinkedIn engagement.
6. The Geographic Career Advantage
Studies show that proximity to tech hubs provides significant career advantages, with graduates from universities near major tech centers earning higher wages and accessing better job markets. We'll examine whether professionals in major hubs (SF, NYC, Seattle) get disproportionate visibility even for similar content.
7. The Influence Network Map
Who are the most powerful content amplifiers on LinkedIn? Most studies focus on top voices. Are they executives, recruiters, or industry thought leaders? We'll trace how content spreads through professional hierarchies and identify the key nodes in professional influence networks.
8. The Career Stage Visibility Curve
How does content reach change as professionals advance from entry-level to senior roles? Research suggests there may be a "visibility valley" where mid-career professionals struggle to maintain the same level of engagement as both newcomers and established leaders. We’ll investigate whether it applies on LinkedIn.
9. The Controversy Engagement Trade-off
Do posts on divisive professional topics (remote work, AI replacing jobs, industry criticism) get high engagement but limited reach? Sometimes it seems like it. We'll analyze the complex relationship between controversy and professional visibility.
10. The Weekend Professional Paradox
Does career-focused content posted on weekends reach different audiences and generate different types of engagement than weekday posts? We'll map the temporal patterns of professional content consumption.
Why Your Participation Matters
We’re conducting a study at scale and your participation will help. We will share our analysis with the community to help inform all of us towards building a better professional presence.
We need a diverse dataset that reflects the real professional world - people from different industries, career stages, geographic locations, and backgrounds. Your anonymized posting data will help us uncover patterns that could be affecting millions of professionals worldwide.
Our Commitment to Privacy and Ethics
All data will be completely anonymized before analysis. We'll only share aggregate findings, no individual profiles, posts, or personal information will ever be identifiable in our results. You maintain full control over your data and can withdraw from the study at any time.
Our methodology follows rigorous academic standards, with results peer-reviewed before publication. We're committed to transparency: both our methodology and key findings will be made publicly available to benefit the entire professional community.
The Bigger Picture
This research extends far beyond LinkedIn. Understanding the factors that shape professional visibility gives us insights into:
- Workplace equity: Are digital platforms amplifying or reducing traditional workplace biases?
- Career development: How can professionals optimize their online presence for actual career advancement?
- Industry dynamics: Which professional communities are best connected and why?
- Future of work: As remote work normalizes, how do online professional networks influence career trajectories?
How to Contribute
We need 3 specific files from your LinkedIn data export:
- Profile.csv - Your public profile information
- Shares.csv - Your posts (what your followers already see)
- Comments.csv - Your comment activity (also public to your network)
Note: This is all public data that your followers can already see – we're just analyzing it systematically.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Visit LinkedIn on your desktop (this feature isn't available on mobile)
- Navigate to your Profile (click your profile picture)
- Click "Settings & Privacy" (in dropdown menu)
- Select "Data Privacy" tab on the left
- Scroll down to "Get a copy of your data"
- Follow LinkedIn's download process
- Select the data you want to include (all data)
- LinkedIn will email you when ready (usually 24-72 hours)
- Download the zip file when notified
Prepare Your Files
After downloading your LinkedIn data:
- Extract the zip file LinkedIn sent you
- Find these 3 files:
- Profile.csv
- Shares.csv
- Comments.csv
- Create a new zip file containing only these 3 files
- Name your zip file: YourFirstName_LastName_<random-number>.zip
(Example: John_Smith_49031.zip)
Upload Your File
📤 Upload your named zip file here: https://www.dropbox.com/request/kIRjo7Ts8rKyOU9YI5fN
If you have any questions, email us at:
research@finallayer.com
Participation is easy and you'll receive early access to our findings.
Together, we can shed light on the hidden factors shaping professional success and work toward a more equitable digital workplace for everyone.
