An internet rumor cost Apple 10% of its stock market value
At 9am on October 3, after a series of iterations on Twitter, an anonymous internet user posted an article on iReport, CNN’s platform for citizen journalism, revealing that Steve Jobs had been taken to the emergency room for a heart attack.
Barely an hour later, Apple’s stocks dropped 10% before returning to their original value after Apple’s official reaction: “It’s not true”.
 Was this simply bad intention or a “pump and dump” scam? Or was this new proof of the limits of citizen journalism?
It doesn’t matter.
What does matter, however, is how quickly this published information propagated and the resulting consequences for this company. 
Increasingly, we are seeing situations of crisis communication where public figures, business leaders, and also brands are at the heart of conversations between internet users.
Some companies understand that these discussions that are beyond surveillance represent both a threat and an opportunity for their business, like Apple who had to respond in less than an hour to calm the market freefall.
For others, there exist tools that allow for the automatic collection and analysis of messages from blogs and forums pertaining to a brand or its products. Tag Heuer uses the Consumetrics solution developed by IC-Agency.
With an interface capable real time measurement of the impact of communications, identifying online opinion leaders in your industry or evaluating the way your products or those of your competitors are perceived by consumers is now possible.
Contact IC-Agency, and take advantage of tools designed for competitive intelligence and perception analysis on the internet.
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