When did the metaphor of “surfing” the Internet come about? How did early netizens conceptualize using the Internet, and were there competing metaphors?
Short answer: "Surfing" the internet metaphor first used in 1991, got popular in 1995. Competing terms were "exploring", "navigating" and "browsing"
Long answer:
The world wide web AKA internet invented in 1990. The very first "Surfing the internet" metaphor used in 1991 in a comic book, "The Adventures of Captain Internet And CERF Boy" published by CERFnet ^1
But the "surfing the net" phrase got popular after CERN holds a two-day seminar for the European Media (press, radio, TV) attended by 250 reporters to show WWW. It is demonstrated on 60 machines, with 30 pupils from the local International High School helping the reporters "surf the Web" in March 1995. ^3
After that seminar, the first book using the term "You Can Surf the Net!" ^4 published in U.K in November 1995. It published in U.S.A. the following year. This book and similar 'internet for dummies' books published in that timeline helped popularisation of the metaphor.
And some important parts from the book! ^5
And for second part of your question, competing metaphors were (and still are) "exploring", "navigating" and "browsing".
"Surfing" and other metaphors were inspired by medieval explorers. Internet was the new uncharted digital ocean in 1990's. You can see the idea in two of the popular web browser names: "Netscape Navigator" (1994) and "Internet Explorer" (1995). We still use the browsing term, but navigating/exploring lost their popularity in early 2000's.
1 California Education and Research Federation Network
2 The Adventures of Captain Internet And CERF Boy - Number 1 October 1991 : CERFnet : Free download, borrow, and streaming :. Internet Archive. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/CaptainInternetAndCERFBoyNumber1October1991/mode/2up
3 A Little History of the World Wide Web. Retrieved January 8, 2022, from https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/History.html
4 Gascoigne, M. (1995). You can surf the net! Puffin Books.
5 Dear 1995 me: You CAN surf the net! (2015, October 12). Jclillis.Com. https://www.jclillis.com/blog/dear-1995-me-you-can-surf-the-net/
