There’s a tendency among some people in the online community to take the sharing of information online less seriously than they might for print or in person. I’m willing to bet that we’re all guilty of it from time to time. After all, how much damage could an erroneous or misleading blog article do? In most cases, not much. But a recent post at Engadget showed just how much influence the online community can wield.

“Apple stock dropped 2.2% today in mid-afternoon trading as Engadget published news based on a faked e-mail inside Apple. ‘Apparently an internal memo was sent to several Apple employees–and forwarded to Engadget–around 9am CT today saying that Apple issued a press release with the news that the iPhone was now scheduled for October, and Leopard was delayed until January. About an hour and a half after that e-mail went out, a second e-mail was sent–this time officially from Apple–saying the first e-mail was a fake, and that the delivery schedule for the iPhone and Leopard had not changed.”

That is worth repeating…2.2 PERCENT, people! That is 100% real monetary consequences. And this all happened even though Engadget posted a retraction in a mere 20 minutes! To be clear, this isn’t really Engadget’s fault, per se. At least I don’t believe so. It’s not like they can just call up Apple and confirm with the PR dept…this was an “inside tip” after all. And Apple is notorious for being close-lipped about company matters. And I don’t blame Engadget for posting the news immediately, that would be a major scoop. But it serves to show just how much power an online presence can carry, and reminds us all of the responsibility we have to take our audience seriously.