I do think that Charlene's been put in an interesting position by her PR friends. I think it's self-evident that any firm that has a Beta release is working towards expanding on the functionality. What Fleishman Hillard have been able to do is not only to get Charlene to spotlight that totally unexpectional fact, as if it were special, but also to use this as a basis for their own PR (http://tinyurl.com/cnbzx). They are claiming that this interaction is a case study in using blogs for analyst relations. From my perspective, as a former analyst, it's the subversion and commodification of their analyst relationships, on Yahoo's dime, to publicize a public relations agency.

Kevin: Thanks very much for clarifying this, especially to the fact that you were not pitched directly. For the record, I don't feel that Fleishman and Yahoo! took advantage of the relationship they have with me -- as you mention in your piece, they have done a great job developing a strong working relationship, as have Google, MSN, AOL, and Ask Jeeves. In the end, it's my job as an analyst to figure out what's worth writing about -- or not.