I Follow: Buster Olney

Editor’s note: “I Follow” is all about ESPN employees on Twitter: what they Tweet, whom they follow and how you can interact socially with anyone and everyone.

Today we follow ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney. He’s is one of the most respected baseball writers in the country, and one of the most active in the Twitterverse.

In addition to his usual myriad duties, Olney this week is breaking down the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. The selection process began Monday night and continues through Wednesday.

Before he got immersed in that, Olney shared some of his thoughts on Twitter with us.

Twitter handle: @Buster_ESPN
ESPN jobs: Sunday Night Baseball reporter, Baseball Tonight analyst and ESPN the Magazine senior writer.
Followers: 187, 444*
Following: 194
*as of 6/7/11

FR: Who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter?
Olney: @HowardKurtz. I love to hear the news and gossip from our industry.

FR: Why do you use Twitter?
Olney: I really feel like it’s a direct link to baseball fans, to readers and viewers, and I like the fact you can answer their questions quickly and get them the information they want.

FR: Who is the most exciting person that follows you on Twitter?
Olney: To be honest, I have no idea. Maybe my brother, Sam, who should be governor of Vermont. One problem — he hates baseball.

FR: How do you choose whom to follow on Twitter?
Olney: I follow folks who know how to present information. In a lot of cases, I’ll retweet to my followers.

FR: Which baseball team’s fans are the most responsive to your tweets?
Olney: I get a lot of responses from a wide array of team fans every day, but if I post any news regarding the Red Sox or Yankees, it inevitably results in an ocean of responses from the other team’s fans, accusing me of either being pro or con for their team. It’s a big part of the rivalry.