[bmlzootown]

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the term "factoid" was believed to be coined by Normal Mailer in a book he wrote about Marilyn Monroe. Per said book, factoids are "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority."

While many use "fact" and "factoid" interchangeably, they are (by original definition) inherently two entirely different things.