There’s a lot of relevant Bay Area sports media types on Twitter

Interestingly enough, though the Bay Area sports media is often considered much softer and less intense than that of the big Northeast markets (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, etc.) they’re probably as tuned in to the internet, and take as full advantage of social media, as any contingent in the country.

Which in general makes sense, given the Bay’s ongoing love-affair with technology. Some tweet often with informative little updates, like the San Francisco Chronicle A’s beat writer Susan Slusser. Others, like San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami, use it as an outlet to post short opinions or link to blog posts and columns. All in all, it’s a pretty diverse set.

In light of that, here are 10 of the best sports media personalities on Twitter, if you’re into that sort of to thing:

1)  Susan Slusser – Slusser is the Oakland Athletics beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. For my money she’s the best A’s beat writer in the Bay Area, partly because she’s so involved with the fan base. She addresses criticisms and concerns with her work from time to time both on Twitter and on the popular A’s fan blog, Athletics Nation, which I think both gives her greater credibility and endears her to readers. Above all, though, she’s great on Twitter for bits and pieces of useful information, like her latest tweet on starting pitcher Brett Anderson: “Anderson says via text that he gave two wound-be hits (no fielders behind him). His neck got better and better throughout.” Anderson threw a simulated game today that nobody was around for, and nobody else would have heard about. But it’s nice to know how it went, and Twitter’s kind of the perfect medium for relaying that little bit of info.

2) Tim Kawakami – Kawakami uses Twitter, like I said above, mostly for spouting off pithy thoughts and linking to his columns and blog posts. But he also interacts with readers a lot, providing many re-tweets and what have you. The Mercury News columnist is probably the most inflammatory voice in the Bay Area, our own little version of Dan Shaughnessy, in a way, and he gets a lot of reader feedback, both good and bad, through his blog that he updates pretty often and his Twitter that he’s very active on. He’s always got an opinion on Bay Area sporting developments, and, to his credit, he’s out there defending them through every medium possible.

3) Marcus Thompson – Thompson is the Bay Area News Group’s (Contra Costa Times, SJ Merc, Vallejo Times-Herald, Oakland Tribune, etc. etc.) roving Warriors writer. He’s one of the most active Bay Area sports figures on Twitter, providing both Warriors info, but also really utilizing Twitter to interact with other media personalities and readers. Most of his tweets are responses and retweets, and he also includes lots of personal information, like a recent picture of his daughter.

4)Mychael Urban – Urban’s another inflammatory, opinionated personality in the Bay Area scene. He was originally the oaklandathletics.com team beat writer, and then ventured out into radio, with lots of guest spots on KNBR. Now he does work for the Comcast Sportsnet website, as well as making television and radio appearances. He, like Kawakami and Thompson, likes to use Twitter to send a lot of responses to fans and the like.

5)CSNAuthentic – CSNAuthentic is just the official twitter of Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area. It’s useful to follow in that it will frequently link to the videos of highlights and news stories on their website. It’s also not bad for breaking news.

6)Geoff Lepper – Lepper is a Warriors writer for NBA.com and used to be employed by the Bay Area News Group before they downsized a bit. He, like Thompson, provides nice Warriors tidbits on Twitter, but also has more to say on the NBA in general than the others at times, which I like.

7)ChronLive – ChronLiveCSN is the twitter for the Comcast Sportsnet show Chronicle Live, a Bay Area version of Globe 10.0, if you will. It often asks those following ChronLive to tweet their thoughts on Bay Area stories that they’ll be discussing later on the show that night, and use it as part of the show’s programming, which is a pretty cool, interactive feature I think. It’s also good for knowing what will be on the show and whatnot.

8)Melissa Lockard – Lockard runs the A’s website oaklandclubhouse.com for the scout.com network. She’s one of the best A’s voices out there, especially with prospects and minor league information. Her twitter has been good for following spring training developments, though she mostly uses it to link to columns and such.

9)Damon Bruce – Bruce is a radio personality for KNBR. He’s kind of a shock-jocky guy for the sports types in the Bay Area, and loves to be real critical of the teams. On Twitter he interacts pretty well with his audience.

10)Ann Killion – Killion uses Twitter mostly just to post her columns, but the former SJ Merc columnist is a good read so I like following her to make sure I keep up with her thoughts.