Some readers may have noticed that I have started to tweet a lot more than I used to. It doesn’t take that long and I feel it always helped to promote the site via social media. Different platforms work well for different projects. For example, I spend more time posting on Facebook for my squash persona than Twitter. In the case of RTSL, Twitter seems the best choice.

Now, I know not all of you use Twitter but it is possible to view the tweets (the name of each message posted) even if you don’t have an account – so I don’t feel as though I am limiting access.

The more follows a project can get across various platforms, the more potential visitors to the site and therefore potential usage, including downloads and reviews of maps and mods.

For those interested, there is a screenshot of my analytics page at the bottom of this post, showing the increase in statistics. You will see that at the time of posting the account has achieved 380.3K impressions over this 28 day period and on average earned 13.6K impressions per day (An impression is counted as each time a tweet was viewed).

Of course that trend might not continue but I have certainly picked up quite a few new followers.

In addition to the normal posting of updates, message and general items, I have started 6 daily (although, if I get really busy that may change) tweet series. Each has its own hashtag, meaning it’s easy to find all the tweets related to that series. There is also a weekly series and an occasional one.

Here are the details of each series.

Each day I post a piece of art inspired by Half-Life.
I find these from all over the web and include paintings, both digital and real, sculptures, toys, jewellery, food and screenshots etc. The range and ability varies but I avoid beginner work – sorry. If you would like you work featured, please contact me. In the tweet, I post an image of the art, along with the author’s name and an attribution link back to the author.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLHLA

Over the years I have been running the site, I have posted multiple maps and mods on the same date. In these tweets, I select one, and most days there are more than one, and post a link to it along with the date I posted, the originally date if I have enough space, the author’s name, a link to the post and a screenshot. I try to select a variety of ages and games for each tweet. I generally avoid bad maps or mods.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLOTD

I’m certainly not the only Twitter account that does this but I seem to have a good collection of images, so I decided to start posting. This is currently a daily tweet but I suspect fairly soon it will change to twice a week. I post standard type images of buildings and layouts but I also post images that offer something strange or unusual. Things that might be fun to see in maps and mods.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLLDI

There are lots of features or sections that users don’t know about, either because I haven’t done a proper job or promoting them or because they haven’t looked. These tweets remind or introduce users to those features. I am sure I will start repeating important features every few months but I also hope that readers will find new aspects of the site that they didn’t know existed.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLDYK

No matter how long you have been following the series, the chance are you haven’t read every review, interview or website. This series offers a chance to see those items that would normally be hard to find. If you know of something that may be of interest to RTSL readers, please don’t hesitate to email me.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLRHLI

Not everybody knows about the Half-Life series of games. Some people could be looking for information and this series provides that. In general, I believe it’s bad to assume a certain level of knowledge, so these tweets are aimed at people who are new to the series. I have also found that having to think about each tweet forces me to try to view the series from a new perspective. It’s interesting trying to forget everything I know about the games in order to offer information to new users.
View all the tweets here: RTSLABHL

I don’t consider myself an expert of the Half-Life series of games and there’s a good chance you know way more than I do but there is still a lot to learn for even the most dedicated expert. Each week I post a question that I create from information found on the Combine OverWiki but not always. The question is: How many answers do you know?
View all the tweets here: #RTSLWHLQ

Most days, I will be posting images taken from in-development single player mods. I will post a variety of mods but may have weekly focuses. If you would like your mod to be featured, please contact me.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLWTH

For selected mods, I am offering a free Steam game to one lucky reviewer. The review must use a Recommendation image and must be of sufficient length. The draw will take place one month after the mod was released.
View all the tweets here: #RTSLRGG

Occasionally, I need to find lost files and use these tweets to ask for help. Some files may be lost forever but others could be on hard drives just waiting to be found. Let’s try to keep history alive!
View all the tweets here: #RTSLLHLSPF

You can clearly see the increase in views.