Vodafone seem to want to avoid this fate, and to have learned from 3's slow sales.

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To avoid this fate, and to make Facebook work for them, marketers will need to follow four steps.

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To avoid this fate, Spears and Lopez could look to fellow Forbes lister Oprah Winfrey for inspiration.

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So what can you invest in to avoid this fate?

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If Facebook can use its remaking of the News Feed to reinforce this concept, it may avoid the fate of the failed social networks of the past.

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And yet America's economy and political system is more resilient, and flexible, than Japan's and this should help it to avoid Japan's fate.

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This time around they were determined to avoid a similar fate.

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