Digg survey: Two in 10 'check Google Reader many times a day'

The furor over Google Reader's eminent demise, while quieter, is by no means over. Today, Digg pours gasoline on the fire, by publishing results from a survey about subscription habits. Late last month, the social news site announced intentions to build its own RSS solution. The company made the task the number one priority and immediately began asking for feedback. Among the 17,000 people who signed up to help shape the product, 8,000 returned surveys.

Keep in mind this is a self-selected group of people most likely to use RSS and doesn't really represent the habits of most Internet users. Results show that "80 percent of respondents check Google Reader many times a day, and 40 percent follow more than 100 feeds". In addition, more than 75 percent of the respondents say they use Google Reader for both work and play and the the most popular response to question "If there’s one thing you could remove from Google Reader what would it be"? is "nothing".

Digg is working furiously to use this data to build the new app, but warns that "we’ll need to make sure we have some serious infrastructure in place to support that kind of usage for launch". However, the social service also cautions that every capability may not be in place at the time of the beta launch, though it gives no timeframe for that introduction.

Digg isn't alone filling the void Reader's imminent demise will leave. Feedly received 500,000 new users in the days following Google's death notice, while other services, like The Old Reader, have simply come close to unusable in the wake.

Google has simply shot itself in the foot with this move -- the market was there, but the company foolishly thinks that the elimination of Reader will somehow force more users to the Google+ social network in order to scan news. However, the services are not related and Google has only alienated customers and created a feeling of distrust among its once-faithful base.

Photo Credit: NinaMalyna/Shutterstock