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Digg to release Google Reader replacement beta in June

Digg continues to survey people on what they want in a RSS reader. So far, it looks like the service won't be social or free when it launches.

Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam
2 min read
Digg

Digg surveyed thousand of people to find out what features they want in its upcoming RSS reader in preparation for a June beta launch, the company said in a blog post Tuesday.

"Our beta release in June will be just the beginning, a product built with experimentation in mind by a team eager to work with you to build something you love," the Digg blog reads.

This means Digg will start testing its RSS reader, which will probably be a subscription service, just a month before Google Reader shuts down.

This round of user feedback, gathered from over 8,600 responses, included whether or not people would pay for a RSS reader. Most users said no, but 40 percent said they would be willing to pay.

"Free products on the Internet don't have a great track record. They tend to disappear, leaving users in a lurch," according to the blog post. "We need to build a product that people can rely on and trust will always be there for them. We're not sure how pricing might work, but we do know that we'd like our users to be our customers, not our product. So when we asked survey participants whether or not they would be willing to pay, we were pleased to see that over 40 percent said yes."

Digg also plans to make sure it is easy to share links to Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and "read it later" services like Pocket, Instapaper, Evernote, and Readability, based on survey results.

 
Digg
Nearly half of the people surveyed said they didn't use Google Reader's social features before Google got rid of them in 2011. Only 17 percent of people said they had used them often. Despite this, Digg plans to add social elements to its reader, but not at first.

"Though we may not have a robust social functionality in place for launch, ultimately we believe that social features which foster connections between readers will be an important part of the Digg experience," according to the blog post.

To sign up for Digg's surveys, go here. Diggsaid previouslythat the new reader will be simple to use, work across a variety of devices, and easily import feeds from existing Google Reader accounts.