The man behind the latest Twitter meme: Uberfacts
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:
1.) How did you get the idea for Uberfacts?
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."
2.) Go through the life of an Uberfact; how does one come about, and when do you know in your brain, "I need to publish this"?
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.
3.) Where do most of your UberFacts come from?
Anywhere I can find information. Books, the news, science articles, etc.
4.) @Uberfacts never replies to anyone, but you reply to people on your personal account, @KrisSanchez. Do you enjoy replying to all those people?
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.
5.) Will you ever run out of facts?
That's a question that I get all the time. The answer is "no." There will always be new and interesting information for UberFacts.
6.) Uberfacts only recently started getting popular. What did you do in December to make it explode?
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.
7.) What Twitter client/software do you use to manage all these tweets?
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.
8.) Do you see a printed book of Uberfacts in your future?
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.