Because Sean Kernan is The Flagship Among Us
What’s the frequency Kenneth?
The Writers Lift publication’s description is “Find new writers, or give a shout-out to your old or new favourites.” Writing about someone above me would be kissing ass. Instead I should write about a worthy writer that would benefit the most from me writing about them.
When I write about Sean Kernan, the deserving person who benefits is me.
I don’t write about other writers unless I’m poking fun at them. There’s no writer I’ve made fun of more than Sean Kernan. I’ve been having a giggle at Sean for three years across two platforms.
It’s been a running joke for years. I don’t bother tagging him anymore because I make fun of him in half the stories I write. I like Sean as a person and writer. I wouldn’t keep talking about someone if I didn’t like them. To parody someone you must know them well. I feel safe saying that I am the foremost Sean Kernan expert on the internet.
Why Sean Kernan Calls Himself The Son of Quora
When one person is responsible for driving traffic that Sean does to a social network they earn the right to call themselves whatever they want. Sean has never discussed his strategy for the original partner program on Quora. It was brilliant.
Quora is a questions and answers site. Anyone can ask a question and anyone can answer. Their old partner program paid the person who asks the question. The asker is paid on how many views the responses to the question get.
After asking a question you have 30 requests to send to other Quora members to answer your question. Most askers went with the strategy of asking the most popular writers to answer their question. But popular writers get thousands of requests a day.
For years Quora had gate keepers at the top who only answered each other’s questions. Sean Kernan blew past all of them by sending requests to not the most viewed but the most active writers in the question’s categories. The most active writers are always looking for good questions. Because Sean Kernan answers were popular, his questions had the potential to do big numbers.
His strategy benefited him financially. It also made Quora a better place. His questions gave the spotlight to deserving new voices. The gate keepers saw their numbers drop as new names appeared at the tops of the category writer rankings.
Sean Kernan isn’t just a writer on Quora, he is Quora. Quora’s biggest blunder was not doing anything to retain him when he started spending most of his time writing for Medium.
Why Sean Kernan is a good writer
Sean is able to take a complex idea and explain it in a way that teenagers and non-native speakers understand. Using a huge vocabulary in your writing demonstrates intelligence. Explaining things to people like they’re five demonstrates wisdom and allows your message to be interpreted by a wide range of people.
Sean has the best ideas for stories. And by the best I mean better than everyone else who does this. He’s consistent. His quality level only spikes up.
Sean’s biggest asset is his memory. He remembers every obscure thing he’s ever come across on the internet. And unlike other top writers on social media he’s not just writing the same story over and over.
How Sean Kernan Feels About Being Made Fun of
There’s a difference between being a troll and satire. I’d never say anything bad about him as a person. There’s nothing to say.
I used to ask him for permission to use him in my stories.
“Hey Sean! I wrote this thing where I pop out out of your microwave wanna take a look?”
“Looks good man!”
“Hey Sean I photoshopped your head on this thing. That cool?”
“Haha! Cool!”
“Hey I wrote this story where you punch a baby and defile an orphan. Wanna take a look?”
“Lol. Wild.”
It got to the point where it felt like I was bugging him so I don’t ask anymore. Sean is smart enough to know that when I make fun of him I’m actually promoting him to an audience that may not normally read his stuff.
I’ve never asked him how he feels about it. But Sean follows 100 people on Twitter and I’m one them so I don’t think he hates me that much.
The Best Sean Kernan Medium Stories
You can find his most popular through the search. These are deep cuts.
He doesn’t sell classes or write about writing much. So when he talks about writing I read it. This is the most helpful advice I’ve read about writing on Medium. Sean should update the title. His number is higher now.
While I thought Sean tagging his ‘alcohol almost killed me’ story as humor was hilarious the story was not. Here’s something he wrote that actually is funny.
But if you really want to see how good Sean is, it’s this recent story of his featuring a mini fridge.
The Future of Sean Kernan
Most of the smartest people on Medium realize that this site isn’t the end all be all. Most of us hope to use our success online and parlay it into something else.
I don’t think he wants to do a podcast. I don’t think he’s going to start streaming himself playing videogames anytime soon. I think Kernan’s thinking bigger.
The one thing Kernan doesn’t talk about is politics. He’s got a good reason for that.
Thanks for having one pic I didn’t have to photoshop Sean. He looks pretty good up there. His all-American babyface persona is keeping with image. I’m pretty confident I know which side he’s on but that’s not for me to tell you. He’s never told me anything about running or politics. But if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Maybe start as a state senator, Mayor next. From there who knows?
