Eighty percent of respondents check Google Reader many times a day: Survey

Results of the survey that Digg sent out to those who signed up to help with building the reader are out, and so are some interesting insights.

Compiling the responses it received, Digg has found that 80 percent of the respondents check Google Reader several times a day while 40 percent of readers follow over 100 feeds. These numbers have led Digg to conclude that “this is a product for power users,” and that they would have to “make sure we have some serious infrastructure in place to support that kind of usage for launch.”

When asked what do they use Google Reader for, more than 75 percent of the respondents replied that they used it for both work and play. 

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The end of Google Reader is imminent, and in such a situation, users are looking out for alternatives. The survey suggests that users are trying a lot of different types of RSS products but have not found the one to settle down with. 

Here’s what users would want to remove from Reader

Digg had sent its survey to over 17,000 respondents, and it claims to have received over 8,000 responses so far. 

Those who’ve been using Google Reader religiously would definitely know of the keyboard shortcuts. When Digg quizzed users, if they used keyboard shortcuts in Google Reader, 67 percent responded saying that they use keyboards shortcuts “at least some of the time”. If you’re eagerly awaiting the Digg reader, then you should know that they have this one on their list too. 

Search is another feature on  Google Reader and 25 percent of the respondents admitted to never using it. However, over half of the users admitted to using it sometimes. While Digg has this on its list too, it adds, “We don’t yet know if we’ll have the necessary infrastructure up and running in time for our initial beta launch”.

Digg decided to wrap up the survey with a bunch of open ended questions, which they have showcased on a word cloud. 

In mid-March this year, when news about Google planning to eventually shut down Reader started getting hotter, Digg announced that it was moving its plans of building a Reader-like reader to the top of its list. 

“We’ve heard people say that RSS is a thing of the past, and perhaps in its current incarnation it is, but as daily (hourly) users of Google Reader, we’re convinced that it’s a product worth saving. So we’re going to give it our best shot,” the Digg post said, announcing the move. As part of this process, Digg reveals that it wishes to “identify and rebuild the best of Google Reader’s features”, and this includes the latter’s API. In doing so, they plan to make it progressive enough to fit the Internet of 2013."

What makes this deal interesting is that Digg is seeking the opinions and inputs of the users on what they’d like to see in a reader. “In order to pull this off in such a small window, we’re going to need your help. We need your input on what you want to see in a reader. What problems should it solve for you? What’s useful? What isn’t? What do you wish it could do that it can’t today?” the post added.