Is Net Surfing a Dying Sport?
When it comes to Internet navigation Internet users are apparently done with surfing. According to a new survey, a majority of users now go directly where they want to go by typing in URLs and using bookmarks, rather than hopping from Web link to Web link. “Meandering is decreasing. This is a sign that the market is maturing,” said Geoff Johnston, vice president of product management for the StatMarket division of WebSideStory which released the report Thursday. According to StatMarket, over 64 percent of Net users surveyed arrive at sites through direct navigation, compared to 53 percent a year ago. Although the uptick in direct navigation shows that users increasingly know where they want to go, that does not mean that search engine use is down, however. In fact, Johnston said that the percent of users arriving at a site via a search engine has increased to 13 percent from 8 percent last year.
