CYBERSPACE could be considered cluttered with the remains of less successful online ventures.

Like almost everything associated with the sector, new products have emerged with a speed that sets many of the businesses involved apart from their counterparts in more conventional markets.

And those who previously held sway, or dominant market share, in more mature markets like print publishing or broadcast advertising have come to the party to find the landscape is changing faster than ever.

For the old guard, the real head- scratching challenge has been, and for many remains, how to generate revenue from their internet activity and how to make more revenue from the massive content resources at their disposal.

Take Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, for example.

It is planning to put its content behind a “pay wall”. It will be no mean feat to put the Genie of free access to content back in the bottle, but if there is a business that can do it, it’s Rupert Murdoch’s. He will be backing it with a lot of money.

The key will clearly lie in convincing customers that the content they need to pay for has a value, and of course News Corp divisions and titles have to do that in huge numbers to persuade those advertising on their sites that the traffic will still flow.

Elsewhere in his empire, Murdoch is facing other new technology challenges.

Social networking site MySpace is one of his brands, arguably News Corp’s leading digital brand.

Despite retaining over 100m users, its very future is being called into question by some. The Murdoch businesses paid £332m to buy its parent company in 2005. Since then, it’s pretty well universally acknowledged that arch social network rival Facebook has strengthened its already strong position in the market.

MySpace remains sizeable but it has lost users, businesses and – some industry watchers claim – momentum.

That, according to those now in charge, is all going to change. MySpace wants top spot back.

Evolution and innovation will doubtless be to the fore as it wrestles its competitors for market leadership.

In the fickle world of internet business it promises to be a fascinating encounter played out for very high stakes.