Browsing vs. Surfing

Main Difference

The Internet is a wide world and most people use it to obtain the information they require. This information can be in different forms or about anything which may be of interest to the user or they stumble upon it out of nowhere. How to look for the information depends on the person. Some of them have a particular term in mind and they end up searching for it, while others have no particular idea and search through different forums to get the information they need. Two terms which are related to this but are different from each other are known as browsing and surfing. The main difference between them is difficult to understand in general terms, for example, browsing is defined as the act of reading something randomly while surfing is defined as looking around in a random manner without aiming at something specific. But there is the difference between them when it comes to the world of internet. Here, browsing can be termed as the act of finding a particular topic and having related terms about it to find what you are looking for. This way, the search becomes specific and getting the information becomes easier. Surfing, on the other hand, is when you do not have a particular term in mind but you want to look for different topics at different places to enhance your knowledge. To sum this up, for internet, browsing is the act of getting specific information while surfing is the act of getting random information. There is one other way of defining them as well which might not be the standard but browsing is something which is looked up with the help of websites in a web browser while surfing is looking for information with the help of search terms and on a search engine. There are many other differences between the two types which will be explained later in detail while some explanation of both these types of internet accessories is given in the next two paragraphs.

Difference Between Browsing and Surfing

Comparison Chart

Definition of Browsing

When people open a website they have to use a web browser for that. It is an application which allows the user to enter a web address and then takes them to that address where they can get all the information they need. In simple terms browsing is defined as looking for some type of information and reading about it without any proper aim or objective. In the world of internet browsing is explained as the act of finding data related to a particular topic with the help of websites and reading about it in one space so that all the information becomes relevant. People can find what they are looking for if they have some idea of the topic beforehand and they end up getting the information in less time.

Definition of Surfing

Many times, people who use the internet end up looking for random stuff on the web to enhance their knowledge, they just enter a search term and keep opening one term from the other until they know enough to stop looking. This is done with the help of search engines, therefore, surfing can be explained as the act of finding information without depending on the web browser. In general, terms is defined as looking here and there for something without having any aim in mind. This is mostly done when the person does not have any particular idea of what they intend to find. It is like going through different parts of a website and exploring what it is all about in the form of different topics.

Conclusion

The two terms which are very similar to each other but in reality are different can become a trouble if you don’t give much concentration. Surfing and browsing are two such terms which are usually confused by people who do not know much about them. Hopefully, after reading this article that would have changed.