(On the other hand, if you want to encourage people to follow you, do the opposite of these actions.)

If you want to telegraph to potential Twitter followers that you don’t know very much about Twitter or branding yourself or a business, keep the Twitter default background.  It’s boring and it telegraphs boring and not very committed to Twitter.  (Using one of the Twitter-provided templates and changing the colors is better than the default background, but not by much.)

If you want to make sure that potential Twitter followers have no idea what your name is, your URL, and your bio information, use dark type on a dark background.  There’s no way anything can be read.

If you want potential Twitter followers to be unable to recognize you at an in-person tweetup or conference or elsewhere, use a photo that blocks your eyes or a photo of your dog as your Twitter profile photo.

If you want to convince potential Twitter followers that you are an uninteresting person, be sure and tweet constantly about what you had for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks.  (The exception to this is if you are in the food business and are actually sharing informative tweets on food.)

If you want to demonstrate to potential Twitter followers that you are only about self-promotion, be sure to only tweet about your own products and services.

If you want to showcase that you do not actually participate on Twitter, make sure that all your tweets are automatic feeds from your blog posts.

If you want to demonstrate further that you are not actually participating on Twitter, be sure to never respond to any replies sent to you.

If you want to get a reputation as unhelpful on Twitter (a social networking site that is all about being helpful and sharing information), make sure to refuse help to someone when he or she asks you for it.

If you want to demonstrate even further that you aren’t pulling your weight in the Twitter community, send a tweet only once every 10 days or so.  Potential followers will clearly get the message you are NOT on Twitter to engage in conversation.

Here’s the bottom line: If you aren’t going to actively engage in Twitter and share valuable information with potential followers, why bother to be on Twitter at all?  Give up your Twitter username to someone who will be active, and enjoy whatever social networking sites you are active on.

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is an Internet business consultant whose power marketing website is www.MillerMosaicLLC.com.  She is also the Twitter marketing expert at Site-Booster.com and a National Internet Business Examiner.

If you liked this article, you’ll love her free report on “Power Marketing’s Top 3 Internet Marketing Tips” – download the report now from www.TeachMeToUseTwitter.com.