Yahoo is taking steps to make its e-mail service more like those of its rivals Facebook and MySpace.

Under the new service, Yahoo's e-mail users will have the option of setting up their accounts so they can highlight communications from other people with whom they have formed an online connection.

The arrangement provides Yahoo's roughly 275 million e-mail users with the same kind of set-up used by Facebook and MySpace. Those users can register their profiles and use the sites to form online bonds with their friends and family. That way they can share personal information and keep track of each other's activities.