Mark Glaser points to a blog entry by USA Today’s Patrick Cooper announcing that they will launch a new version of their site this coming weekend. Jeff Jarvis was given a sneak peak at the site and links to a screenshot of the new homepage.

Here are some key components of the new site based on my reading of Cooper’s post:

• Open commenting on every article.
• Profiles where users can post personal information, photos and their own blog entries.
• Active participation in site discussions by reporters.
• Tagging of articles.
• Digg style voting on stories and alternative view of content.
• Site forums where users can discuss anything they want.

Sounds really, really promising.

Tom from our office took a shot at rethinking the design of USA Today a few months back so I’m interested in giving it a thorough test drive once it goes live.
Other related posts:

• 9 Ways for Newspapers to Improve Their Websites
• The Use of the Internet by America’s Newspapers