Whether it is for publishers, press agencies or politics, Internet is a key channel for information. We have seen several times that a simple Tweet or a comment on Facebook can overcome an official press release.
Yesterday (23/04/13), the Associated Press and Twitter gave us a dramatic example of how fast an information broadcast on the Internet can impact the “real world”. Indeed, a Tweet of AP announced that Barack Obama had been injured in two explosions and that the White House was under attack. The Dow Jones dropped from more than 100 points only a few minutes later.
Of course, the attack was denied by the White House and the Dow Jones went back to normal. Hacking a Twitter account is not very surprising and it’s not the real problem. The real issue is that unchecked information was taken seriously by stock markets.
Such incident shows how crucial it is to manage information properly, especially on Internet.
To find out more, here is a link to an article of the Washington Post.