WebProNews

As you can see from the image below, Yahoo and CNN are running small text links on My Yahoo! that encourage readers to add CNN.com's main RSS feed to their personalized page.

Is this advertising or is Yahoo! simply recommending feeds based on what you read? It's unclear. If this is indeed advertising, it's a brilliant move on CNN's part to attract readers, mindshare and traffic.

UPDATED: Helena Maus from Yahoo corporate PR wrote in to explain...

Saw your post regarding CNN and My Yahoo! today, and just wanted to clarify. The link to CNN in it was based on an editorial decision, not a specific agreement between CNN and Yahoo!. You have probably noticed that the content in that link rotates on a daily basis, and you'll see other content available via My Yahoo! displayed there, from Yahoo! Personals to Craigslist and more. The third party sites we've included are culled from some of the most popular RSS feeds available on My Yahoo! and again based on editorial decisions.

So there you have it - it's editorial, not advertising.

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.