• by Shankar Gupta , October 31, 2006

MSNBC.com will begin carrying news and commentary from start-up political social networking site HotSoup.com under a new deal between the companies slated to be announced today. The partnership also calls for MSNBC.com to begin distributing its RSS feeds to HotSoup starting today.

Under the agreement, HotSoup co-founder Ron Fournier, formerly a political writer for the Associated Press, will post daily updates on the hottest topics on HotSoup and a weekly news analysis of issues under discussion at the site. Additionally, several of HotSoup's co-founders--including long-time online ad executive Allie Savarino, and political PR firm Glover Park Group founding partner Joe Lockhart--will appear on "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and other MSNBC programs under the deal.

MSNBC.com Editor in Chief Jennifer Sizemore said HotSoup.com will give users a new arena in which to discuss the larger issues that relate to the elections. "HotSoup also is very issue-oriented, and so it gives a little more texture to our community offerings," she said. "If you're going to be a great news Web site, you have to give people whatever they want, even if that means sending them away for a while."

HotSoup, which officially launched last week, has tapped 90 high-profile politicians and pop culture icons--including Republican Senator John McCain, Democratic Senator Barack Obama and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, and rocker Jon Bon Jovi--to write short posts.

HotSoup co-founder Chip Smith, of the Glover Park Group, said that the deal with MSNBC would help HotSoup get on the radar of politically minded users. "It advantages us in getting new members," he said. "The more people that join, the more robust the conversation, the better the community will be."