Via Marketing Vox:

Do Internet users still "surf" the Web? A recent survey by Burst Media finds that more than 56 percent of 13,000 repondents get to websites by using search engines. 28% of them type URL of websites directly or use bookmarks. Only 14% follow links from other sites or ads to get to new sites. The interesting result indiciates that web user's informaiton retrieval might be a more purposive behavior than a random activity.

Respondents in different age groups exhibit various browsering patterns. About 61% of those 25-64 years old say they use search engines to visit sites while less than half of those in younger and older groups claim so. Instead, younger and senior users visit websites regularly--they prefer to use URLs and bookmarks.

I have no access to the original report so can't find more about the survey design, sampling, and other details. But a more thorough scale on measuring the extent to which people rely on search engines for information might offer better explanation of the phenomenon. It's also interesting to figure out what websites poeple visit regularly and for what reason they stick to those sites.

According to Marketing Vox, Burst Media is "an online network of publishers and advertisers of some 2,000 websites delivering more than 4 billion monthly impressions. It also markets AdDesktop, an ASP ad management solution."