Owen Van Natta didnt detail specifics but indicated that the ability to make changes to the site was a reason he took the job of MySpace chief executive last month.

“When I look at MySpace theres just so much opportunity to build,” Van Natta said at The Wall Street Journals D: All Things Digital conference. “I took the job because theres a lot more that can be done around innovation.”

Though praised for its substantial entertainment content, MySpace has been criticized for falling behind rival Facebook when it comes to technology. Its worldwide user base has also stagnated at about 130 million, compared with Facebooks 200 million.

“Certainly were not the darling of the press right now, I think thats pretty clear,” he said.

Van Natta, a former Facebook executive, said success would require trial and error, with failures along the way. He said its starting from a strong place with millions of users.

MySpace, based in Beverly Hills, Calif., has distinguished itself from Facebook by allowing users to be “super-creative” in designing their pages, Van Natta said.

“Im a big believer in personalization,” he said. “Our job is to make MySpace really, really great for everybody, and that means that the experience has to be different for everybody.”

Van Natta fielded questions for nearly an hour with Jonathan Miller, a former chief executive at AOL who was recently named chief digital officer of News Corp., the New York-based media conglomerate that also owns the Journal.

Miller acknowledged Facebook is a rival but that the growth in social networking leaves plenty of room for both.

“Yes, I think Facebook is a competitor but its also fine to have competitors,” Miller said. “I dont think its going to be a winner-take-all game at all.”

A substantial amount of MySpaces revenue comes from a $900 million, three-year ad-sharing deal it began with Internet search leader Google Inc. in 2007. That deal expires in August 2010.

Miller said a new agreement with Google might involve other News Corp. Web sites.

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