A factoid used to refer to a concept that is spurious, unverified, unverifiable, incorrect, and/or invented that is passed off as a "fact." In other words factoids are "facts" that rely on truthiness instead of truth and as such is not a "fact" at all.
The word is used to manipulate public opinion, either to be used as premises to support an argument or to create or prolong public exposure.
An example of this is Robert Mugabe's attempt to blame most of Zimbabwe's economic woes on sanctions imposed on him by the EU and the USA and present that argument off as fact; even though this completely over looks the fact that the sanctions imposed are only on him and a select group of his cronies and their families. It also never mentions that trade between Zimbabwe and the US has increased greatly in since the sanctions were imposed.
Links:
Wikipedia: Factoid
Wikiality: Truthiness (keep in mind that this is a satirical political site that first coined the word Truthiness)
