Online information is used on a regular basis by most people and by people at all levels in society and all walks in life. I know of peple who use information obtained from online searches to do thngs as sacret as preaching a message to a congregation.
It is usualy difficult to authenticate information gathered online. I try to look at the source of the information to detrminte its credibility. For example if is comes from Webster, then I would easier accept it that in if comes form a source that I don't know about.
If it is a topic that is new to you, it might not be able to decifer the crediility of the information. I hardly resort to using gut feeling, those are not always the best way to go. So basially, checking the source of the information is he safest way to go.