Nietzsche once said, "There are no facts, only interpretations". Kris Sanchez would say otherwise. He's the 20-year-old guy running the immensely popular Twitter account @Uberfacts.
These facts aren't lame or boring either. For instance, did you know that you spend 40 minutes a day blind? Or that there's actually a word for fear of losing your cell phone? I bet you didn't know that Oprah's real name is actually Orpah. I could go on and on, but you should check it out for yourself: @Uberfacts.
These (some say useless) facts are quite addicting. This is the only Twitter account I find myself going back in time and reading where I last put it down. I've read all ~6800 tweets and I don't plan on stopping. It's actually just as entertaining to watch the @replies, as they challenge, applaud, and criticize his facts.
Sanchez' @Uberfacts account has gained roughly 250,000 followers in the past month.
Some of Sanchez' most outrageous facts are linked to his Tumblr account, where he explains them in more detail.
I had the privilege to sit down with Sanchez recently. Here's a portion of our Q&A:
Back in September of 2009, on a very boring day up in New Paltz (where I went to college) I ended up searching for useless information to kill time. I had also recently started my personal Twitter account, which had no purpose, so I figured I'd create an account that had one. It was then that, what is now called UberFacts, was "born."
I can be on a train, sitting on my couch or reading an interesting article online. Some start with a random question that I'd ask myself "What's the fear of text messaging?" and some are discovered! If I get a "wow" factor from that piece of information, I choose to share it.
Anywhere I can find information. Books, the news, science articles, etc.
Most of the time I do. It's nice to be able to communicate back! Not many popular accounts do this. However, there are some times when I wished I would have kept myself anonymous, as I did for the first few months.
That's a question that I get all the time. The answer is "no." There will always be new and interesting information for UberFacts.
I started tweeting at night. Up until the end of last year, UberFacts would only tweet during the day. I figured I switch it up a bit because I did have a few international followers that wouldn't see my tweets as often.
I use a couple of apps. People ask me if I manage the page on my own and I always say with the help of technology. CoTweet and Hootsuite are 2 of the best apps I've discovered.
It's a thought that has come across my mind. If UberFacts reaches at least 3,000,000 followers by the end of this year, maybe there will be a book in 2013.